Fairy Tail: The Dragon's Ire
by epickyle123
Summary: An alternate plotline that begins a few days after the conclusion of the Grand Magic Games. Natsu and the gang find themselves led to a strange land, which happens to be in the middle of a civil war between humans and dragons, both sides also warring against their own kind. Will they be able to stop the civil war in time? Or will the two races destroy each other, and themselves?
1. Prologue: A Special Request

**I submitted a fanfic to wattpad a month ago, and I am already 11 chapters in, and I decided to upload it over here. Let me know what you think, and I sincerely hope you enjoy it**

Lucy pondered the events of the previous week, as raucous laughter filled the air around her, enveloping the guild hall with a charged atmosphere of excitement. She sighed inwardly with relief as the stress of previous events finally took its toll on her, delayed by the adrenaline of battle with several dragons, as she simultaneously struggled to comprehend the intricacies of time travel, in order to save the continent from impending destruction . Not to mention the fact that she spent a good 30 seconds naked in a moving barrel with Natsu. "That never happened! That never happened!" she thought, as she shook her head furiously, as if to shake away the memory, in addition to the bright pink blush that had just appeared on her cheeks.

"Lucy!"

A loud thud and a fist appeared on the table in front of her, snapping her out of her reverie. "Let's go on a job!" Natsu grinned, his crooked smile revealing canines that looked too sharp for an average set of teeth. Lucy inhaled deeply, about to protest that she was tired, but all that escaped her was a tired sigh.

"Alright, Natsu. What kind of a job is it?" No matter how much her aching body protested, she just couldn't seem to decline a request from Natsu, not while he still had those honest, marble grey eyes, filled with energy and excitement, imparting that very spirit into whomever looked into them. Natsu had a soul that mirrored the very heart of the Fairy Tail spirit, naive at times, yet always greeting the next challenge with nothing less than a genuine grin.

"Uh, Luce? Lucy? Hello?" He waved his hand in front of her, startling her from her wandering thoughts once more.

"Maybe you should kiss her, Natsu!" A certain winged blue feline cheekily suggested. "That's what always wakes princesses from their slumber!" This provoked heavy laughter from Natsu and a thump on the head from an irritated Lucy, leading to even more laughter on the Dragon Slayer's part. "Owwww! Natsu, stop laughing! You guys are mistreating me!"

"But you called Lucy a princess, Happy!" He managed between giggles

"That's what he was laughing about..." Lucy and Happy did a collective sweat drop. "Hey wait a second! What's so funny about me being a princess?" Lucy snapped, as Natsu's comment registered.

"Nothing, it's just...you're just... you're Lucy!" Natsu grinned, seemingly satisfied with his explanation. Lucy blushed, uncertain how to respond to this.

"Um...uh...thanks I guess?" she replied with evident uncertainty. Happy's blue cat head popped up just above her shoulder at that moment.

"She liiiiiiikes him", he purred teasingly. Lucy bit back the string of profanity she was just about to fire off at the upstart cat, before composing herself, which she barely managed, given the curious stare of said cat, waiting for Lucy to give herself away.

"Can we please just go over the job description?" Lucy asked, eager to change the subject.

"We already did, sheesh Luce you should learn to pay attention", Natsu casually remarked oblivious to Lucy's ticked off expression. "Anyway-" Natsu was about to continue, before he was interrupted by a chirpy, sing-song voice.

"Natsu! Lucy! The master has a special request for you!" A pretty white-haired girl called from behind the counter of the guild's bar.

"Gramps wants to see us huh?" said Natsu scratching his chin, "wonder what for?"

 **A/N: My first honest attempt at a fanfic, I hope you guys like it! Please let me know what you think, and be as honest as possible. Constructive criticism is always appreciated! If you guys want an update soon, please let me know, otherwise I'll probably put it as a low priority task if I find nobody is reading it or enjoys it.**


	2. Chapter 1: Starting the Job

"Hmph", Fairy Tail's guild master grunted, pondering the strange nature of the job, in addition to the cryptic written instructions he was asked to relay. Normally, he would pass off such a request as a practical joke: the product of mislead youngsters with too much time on their hands. However, this particular document, written in faded ink on string-bound sheets of parchment, edges burnt to a crisp and torn in several places, was signed with the mark of a massive claw print on the final page. The print itself was so detailed and well-made, that Makarov had doubts that any human would be capable of producing such a piece. It even outlined tiny scales that edged the tears in the parchment, at the tip of each finger, as well a large gouged out section where the thumb lay, which he supposed were the tears created by the claws of whoever- or whatever- wrote this. It was as though a dragon with a taste for light brown coffee beans had spat it out after realising it was paper, and scribbled the instructions down and signed it hastily by dipping its claws in ink. He chuckled, thinking that a certain fire wizard was more than capable of doing just that, should he ever choose to, heavens forbid, write a story. Or even go near a book for that matter.

"Hey Gramps! I heard that you were looking especially for me! What, did you miss me or something ?" An all too familiar laugh, coincidentally from the very same fire wizard, interrupted Makarov from his thoughts, like a slap in the face.

"As if I would miss you, brat! Learn some manners!" Makarov scolded, getting progressively more irritated as Natsu continued to ignore him.

"So anyway, what is this special request? Are you going to make me an S-class wizard?" He asked with a sudden burst of excitement, his face literally beaming with flames shooting out of his nose and mouth.

"Natsu, you know that you need to pass the test before you become an S-class, and you wouldn't be the only one being tested!" Lucy called in exasperation, hurrying to catch up to Natsu, who had cleared the guild hall in a few bounds upon hearing about a special request.

"Oh. Right. I forgot", he replied, chuckling.

"Anyway," Makarov cleared his throat, wanting to get the annoyance out of the way, "the request seems to have been made by an...interesting client." Makarov put special emphasis on the word "interesting", piquing Lucy's curiosity. Before Lucy could inquire further, she was startled by a yelp of surprise next to her.

"That's Igneel's mark! I know it is!" Natsu exclaimed in a mixture of disbelief and excitement. Before anyone even had time to react, Natsu grabbed the document in one hand, Lucy's arm in the other and sprinted her out the doors of the guild, Lucy seeming to flap in the breeze as her body helplessly flailed behind her arm.

"Kyaaaaaaaaa!" Lucy's screams seemed to disappear into the horizon with the Dragon Slayer and the flying cat tailing them, cheering Natsu with the occasional "Aye, sir!", as the guild hall burst into laughter at the sight.

"Come back safely! " Mirajane chirped at the slowly receding spot on the horizon of the town of Magnolia. "So, Master, do you really think that could have been Natsu's father who sent the request?"

"Hmm", Makarov grunted thoughtfully. It was entirely possible that a dragon had sent the request, considering the fact that it was left anonymously at Porlyuscia's house by an unknown client. However, what had truly caught the Sixth Guild Master's attention was not the claw print at the back; that was the second, far more minor anomaly. The document had a strange magical quality to it, so faint that it was almost undetectable. Despite it's weak strength, Makarov had a dreading feeling that the magic was somehow familiar, dangerously so. It had the same quality as the magic found in Fairy Tail's most dangerous secret: Lumen Histoire.


	3. Chapter 2: The Second Half of the Team

Erza confidently pushed the guild door open and strode into the hall, dragging behind her an immense pile of assorted suitcases and other luggage, on a pull-cart of similar proportion. Following her like an obedient puppy, the Ice wizard Gray trudged slowly behind her. Although, instead of following her out of admiration and respect, it was more out of fear of what she would do to him if he overstepped his bounds again today. "Listen, Erza, about before..." he started before he was cut off by a vicious glare from the fiery red head.

"Erza! How was the job?", Mira asked as Erza approached the bar, scarlet locks bristling in anger.

"Fine."

"You don't look fine to me. Did something happen between you and Gray?" Mira questioned, noticing Gray's crestfallen expression. At this, Erza looked down and muttered something under her breath. By now, all heads were turned towards the trio, wondering what had come over Erza. Concerned glances were trained on not only Erza, but also the uncomfortable Ice Wizard standing behind her. "I can't hear you Erza", Said Mira gently, looking at Erza until her face lifted, tears brimming her left eye.

"He dropped my cake." Erza said quietly. All was silent.

"Gehe. Looks like the ice wizard messed up", a young man with a black mane and metal bolts across his face broke the silence, causing all hell to break lose in the guild hall.

"He dropped HER cake?"

"Is he crazy?"

"Gray, do you have a death wish, or something?!"

"That's a Man!"

These comments came from those guild members who had personally been "scolded" by Erza, many having the scars to prove it. The other half of the guild simply looked at her with an expression that said: "Is she serious?".

"Hold up, hold up, I didn't drop your cake Erza!"

"He didn't?"

"It's not good to lie, Gray."

"It's not as though Erza would lie about cake, Gray."

"Oh, when it comes to cake, she really doesn't mess around."

"She nearly bit my arm off when I accidentally picked up her plate of cake, once!"

"Honesty, Gray! That's a Man!"

"Now, now, settle down brats." Master Makarov held out his hand as the guild's outbursts gradually died down. "Gray, would you explain to us what exactly happened?"

"Well...we ran into some bandits on the way back from the job...I froze the floor to take them out, but I accidentally timed it just as Erza leapt into the middle of them, and she slipped. Well, she actually dived trying to save the cake that had fallen out of her pocket when she jumped, and the ice didn't make things much better-"

"I slipped and I-I sat on the cake", Erza cut Gray off mid-sentence, the ordeal too horrible for her to relive through memory. A few members of the guild stifled a giggle, whilst most looked at her with completely serious expressions, not wanting to give into their instincts to burst into laughter and receive an angry glare.

"Oh, that's terrible!" Mirajane seemed to be the only guild memberwho genuinely sympathised with Erza after that last sentence. "Master, why are you laughing?"

"I'm not laughing", stated the Master, with a seemingly forced pout, his bottom lip quivering. Mirajane sighed and hugged Erza, trying to comfort her..

"Aww it's ok, there'll be others" she cooed.

"It looked so delicious too", said Erza, desperately trying to conceal her emotions and failing miserably .

"Hey, I know something that'll cheer you up! We think Natsu may have gotten a message from his dad!"

"The dragon?" Erza asked in amazement, her sniffling fading. Mirajane nodded.

"He's out on a job right now, to find him! He only left a little while ago with Lucy and Happy, maybe you and Gray could join them, once he puts some clothes on", Mira suggested, emphasising the word "Gray" and looking pointedly at the Ice Wizard, who had absent-mindedly stripped down to his boxers during the conversation. He yelped, realising his mistake and quickly pulling up his pants, leaving only his muscled torso exposed. Gray then cleared his throat and spoke directly to Erza.

"There's a bakery about two blocks away. I guess I could buy you some cakes to make up for the other one." Gray offered, looking embarrassed. At those words, Erza completely transformed: the moping, dejected girl became charged with excitement, her expression betraying her feelings as nothing less than ecstatic.

"Really, Gray? You'd do that for me?" tiny stars appearing in her eyes. Gray's lips formed a small smile.

"Really, for you", he confirmed.


	4. Chapter 3: A Violet Light

"Why don't you do the knocking?" Lucy whispered angrily to Natsu. "You're the one who dragged me all the way out here!" Natsu's face paled, and he stood next to Lucy quietly; a stark contrast to his usual carefree, hyperactive personality. He gulped. "Natsu? Are you even listening to me? Didn't you want to see Igneel really badly?"

"I do!" he whispered indignantly, carefully making sure his voice carried only to Lucy's ears. "It's just that she's..." Natsu leaned in close to Lucy's ear, making Lucy involuntarily blush (which, of course, he was oblivious to). "Scary", he said this in a low, ominous tone.

"WHO, EXACTLY, IS SCARY?" a loud, commanding female voice erupted from behind the door to the hollowed out tree, causing Natsu to ricochet almost a foot into the air, and Lucy to stifle a yelp, as the door opened with a bang, sweeping inches past their faces. The figure at the door glowered at the duo, waiting for an explanation. Natsu and Lucy simply stood there, paralyzed in fright, like deer in the headlights. This continued for several moments, like a predator eyeing it's prey, thinking up the most painful way possible to devour them, before it executed the task and ended their lives. Or, at least, this was how Natsu and Lucy felt in front of the woman, who they feared would eat them. Lucy, still barely recovered from the shock, managed to nudge Natsu, who yelped the first thing that came to his mind.

"Please don't eat me Porlyuscia, sir- ma'am." He gulped, complexion white as a sheet, fearing that he had angered the beast.

"Oh, you're Makarov's kids aren't you? When will that old man learn to leave me be?! I hate humans!" Porlyuscia spat with contempt.

"Well", Lucy began in a small voice, too terrified to point out that Porlyuscia was human as well, "we got a request from someone near your house-"

"I didn't request anything! Now go home!" Porlyusica promptly slammed the door in their face and stomped off, back inside the tree.

"What do we do now?" Natsu asked, just as they heard their names shouted from behind them.

"Natsu! Lucy!" Gray's voice increased in volume as he neared the two being called, followed by a delighted-looking Erza and a winged blue cat. Natsu and Lucy spun around and mimed for Gray to "shut his mouth if he didn't want to be killed", frantically running their fingers across their throat and putting their other to their lips. "So this was where you guys were, huh?"

"SHHH", Natsu and Lucy said in unison, covering Gray's hands and pointing to the door. Gray paled and nodded, showing that he understood, allowing them to release their hands from his mouth. "How did you find us?" Natsu asked in the quietest voice he had ever used in his life.

"We found Happy fishing by the river, said something about you two going someplace dangerous. We were worried, so we hurried over.

"You don't have to be worried about me, droopy eyes", said Natsu, with a smirk.

"Not you, you flaming idiot! I was worried you might get Lucy into trouble", Gray retorted raising his voice.

"Shhhh!" Lucy clamped a hand over each of their mouths, unwilling to let their argument bring Porlyuscia out again. "Can we please talk someplace else? Also what's wrong with Erza?" She shot a concerned glance. Erza had been smiling and looking out somewhere into the distance for the duration of the conversation, completely ignorant to the situation at hand.

"I bought her a dozen cakes", Gray gave them no more explanation than that, as it wasn't required. Lucy and Natsu nodded, knowingly. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Lucy noticed a glowing purple light emanating from behind the tree.

"Guys, do you see that, or am I just imagining things?"

The light, faint at first, seemed to grow stronger and stronger. Natsu and Gray now turned their heads toward the clearly visible light, a deep shade of violet pulsating from behind the tree, becoming progressively more intense the longer they stared. Even Erza awoke from her pastry-induced stupor, and turned her head to look at the light.

"It's coming from over there", Gray pointed out, as he set off, trudging across the soft mud underfoot, dodging tree roots that were sprawled over it, like a net of mossy tendrils. Natsu followed, craning his head, struggling to see the source of the light.

"Wait, guys it could be dangerous," Lucy called after them nervously.

Erza shook her head. "Those idiots don't know the meaning of danger. Come on, let's go." Erza started into a slow jog, easily clearing roots that stuck out at odd angles at her feet, and ducking under overhead branches of nearby trees, quickly catching up to Natsu and Gray.

"Guys! Wait up!" Lucy was significantly less sure-footed than Erza, as she struggled around the large roots and branches that threatened to trip her with every step. "It's so hard to walk with all these tree roots lying around...", she muttered under her breath, almost caught up with the trio, who had now stopped and were gawking at something to the left. "What are you guys- KYAAA!"Lucy tripped over a thick root, hidden under a blanket of moss, and slipped forward, crashing into the three and knocking them over.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?", Gray complained loudly as he got to his feet, brushing himself off.

"Shhh! You'll make Porlyusica angry again!"

The ice wizard was about to shoot him a retort, before he was interrupted by the violet light, now blinding in intensity. The wizards all shielded their eyes, unable to see what was happening. Lucy squinted, managing to make out an orb at the centre of the light, a slightly darker hue of purple than the light that surrounded it, blazing like a violet sun. The light continued to increase, before the team were all forced to look away, their eyes unable to adjust to the brightness, including Erza's imbued right eye, which was impervious to most magic. In a sudden flash so bright, that they could all feel the searing rays on their closed eyelids, even while turned away, the light blinked out into nothingness.

Porlyusica snarled, angered by the voices of yet more wizards in her forest. "Go away", she thought angrily, hoping that by some miracle, they would read her mind and run, scurrying away back to Makarov. However, this seemed to have no effect, as the voices only got louder, sounding like they were coming from the back of her house. Porlyuscia, lines of annoyance now forming on her brow, swung upon the door, and stomped outside to the back of her house with a broom, fully intending to use it with lethal intent, should the annoying wizards choose to stick around. "ALRIGHT! WHO SAID YOU COULD STAY HERE AND MAKE A RUCKUS?" Porlyuscia yelled at the top of her lungs. However, her words fell upon nothing but an empty clearing, of wet grass and light brown soil devoid of any footprint or trace that the Fairy Tail wizards had been there. She shrugged and walked back to her door. "Guess they must have run off after they heard me", Porlyuscia thought, frowning. "I hate humans", she said aloud to herself, before shaking her head and closing the door.


	5. Chapter 4: Unhappy Cats and Dragons

Happy was not very happy at all. After Natsu and Gray had started their argument outside the treehouse, he had realized that it wasn't long before that crazy old lady would come out of the treehouse and do unspeakable things to all of the team, himself included. So Happy did what any sensible blue cat would have done: made a beeline to his favourite fishing spot at a stream a few hundred metres away. However, as he took out his fishing rod from his green backpack, and cast the line into the stream, he felt a sense of overwhelming guilt bearing down upon him. "I'm a part of team Fairy Tail as well", he thought to himself, turning back towards the direction of Porlyusica's tree. "The fish can wait", he glanced over his shoulder sadly, one more time. "Natsu! I'm coming!", he yelled to nobody in particular, racing back to the tree like a bullet. However, as he reached the tree, he realized there was nobody around but himself. "They...", he started, tears in his eyes, "They ditched me! How cruel! Natsu!" Ignoring the fact that it he was the one who had "ditched" the team in the first place.

Happy flew up to a nearby tree, sulking at the fact that they had left without him. "I can't believe they would do something like that...don't they care about me?" He thought, angry and sad. However, it was not long before a new thought occurred to him. "What if they got into trouble?" he remembered all the countless times Natsu had seemed like a magnet for that sort of thing, almost getting the Exceed killed each time. Happy had stuck with him till the end and Natsu was his partner and best friend; it didn't seem likely that he would just toss him away like that. "Which means...he needs my help! I've got to save them all!" he concluded, in the most heroic voice he could muster, punching his tiny right paw into his left palm. "Natsu! Everyone! I'm coming to save you!" He flew up into the sky, about to go into max speed toward the guild hall to save everyone, when a glimmer of reflected light caught his feline eyes. The glimmer of scales from a nearby stream.

Happy landed near the water, his mouth beginning to start a stream of his own, as he thought of all the beautiful fish he could eat, and ways to eat them. Fried, grilled, steamed, smoked, wrapped in seaweed, sautéed and dipped in lemon butter... His mouth salivated at the very thought of each of these dishes, all lined up in front of him. Fresh, beautiful fish. Mmmm. "Wait!" Happy thought, suddenly snapping out of his reverie. "Everyone's in trouble! I can't be wasting time here!" He flew up into the air once more, landing on a nearby tree.

The smell of fresh fish still haunted Happy's mind, clouding his judgement. It was as though the pond had magnetic properties, and he was an iron filing, doomed to be moved at its will. The fish inside seemed to call to him, smiling: _Happy. Eat us._ Happy shook his head, "Natsu! I'm coming! Wait...what if Natsu was a fish..." inside his mind's eye, happy saw a bright, vermillion fish's body with Natsu's head on top.

"Eat me, partner", Fish Natsu smiled at him.

"No! I can't eat my partner, even though you look delicious", Happy struggled to look away, still refusing to give in to his primal desire to devour Fish Natsu. "He could even grill himself, using his fire magic", Happy smiled, thinking about fish heaven, a magical land where fish could cook themselves. "Although I prefer them raw, that would still be pretty nice... maybe a pinch of salt... a dash of pepper", already preparing to cook Fish Natsu in his mind. Happy started, snapping out of his fish daydreams once more, and staring at his hands, a dark expression passing over his face. "Wh-what have I become?" he asked himself, shaking in fear. "Natsu! I'm sorry! I'll never eat you again!" he called out to the sky, bolting out of the tree, this time succeeding in flying away from the tree at maximum speed, towards the guild.

After a few minutes, Happy was focused solely on saving Natsu and possibly Lucy and the rest, as recompense for eating Fish Natsu: a deed that hung heavy over his shoulders: the burden of guilt. He flapped his tiny wings as hard as he could, closing his eyes, and diving headfirst towards the guild hall, which was directly up ahead. Just before he reached his target, Happy crashed into something extremely hard mid-flight, like a rock mountain in the middle of Magnolia. Dazed from the collision, Happy shook the stars out of his eyes, and looked up towards two black holes, side by side, much larger than his paws, but smaller than his head. He looked up toward the source of the crevices, and paled, all the colour draining from his face. He was speechless, terrified and frozen in fear. Facing him, was a massive black dragon, large enough to carry one or two people, albeit much smaller than the ones he had seen at the Eclipse portal. "H-h-hi there, you must be new here", was all he could manage, petrified, slowly backpedalling away from the monster that flapped its leathery, black wings before him. However his feeble attempts at escape were too slow; too late. The dragon's maw opened, revealing two sharp canines on either lip and dozens of rows of sharp, jagged teeth, small yet deadly sharp. The massive maw closed around the cat as he squealed one last time, praying that Natsu would come and save him.

"Where are we?" Gray asked, scratching his head. They were in the middle of an open field, lined with rows and rows of radiant golden crops and rimmed with velvety, blood-red roses. Next to it lay a dense forest, the outer trees knotted in thorns and bramble. There was a large opening in the cover of trees, opposite where they grew the densest, where the team could see a beautiful shoreline, covered with thin beads of soft, white sand.

"It's so beautiful", Lucy gasped in amazement.

"Guys, does anyone know where Happy is?" Natsu asked, pushing past the tall crops, looking for his companion. The others looked around, but the Exceed was nowhere in sight. Just then, the ground seemed to darken, as the sun above their heads was covered, casting a long, dark shadow on the team. They all looked up, to see the silhouette of a gigantic bat-like creature, which swooped down, landing directly in front of Natsu, it's breath falling heavily on his face, pushing back his spiky hair.

"Who goes there?" a loud, authoritative voice called down from atop of the clearly reptilian creature.

"Is that... a dragon?" Lucy gasped loudly. Gray and Erza raised their eyes in amazement, whilst Natsu simply stared at the creature.

"It's not a dragon anymore", came the blunt, emotionless reply from Natsu. Lucy glanced at him with concern, and was about to ask what he meant by that, before she was interrupted by the voice once more.

"Cease and desist, and you will be treated leniently!" It called. Erza stepped forward confidently, and looked the dragon in the eye.

"May I know who is speaking to us?" Erza called in an equally commanding tone.

"I'll be asking the questions here ma'am, or else you'll have to speak to my friend over here", a gloved hand reached down from behind the creature's head, and patted its side. At this, Erza pushed past Natsu and clamped a hand on the mouth of the creature, which tried to back away, startled, but could not escape the scarlet wizard's iron vice. She leapt onto it's head and disappeared behind its bony crown. "Hey, what are you- agh!" the voice was cut off by a scream and a loud thump, as its owner fell to the ground, Erza jumping off and landing gracefully next to him and grabbing him by the collar.

"Talk!" she commanded, no longer playing games.

"Fourth Division Scout, Dolby Hardhead, at your service, sir!" the short man barked out obediently, clearly terrified out of his wits under the glare of Erza. The other three wizards looked at him sympathetically, as Erza shook him repeatedly, demanding to know where they were.

"Um, Erza, maybe you should let him answer the question instead of shaking him so much", Lucy suggested quietly, as Natsu and Gray stared at her as if she was out of her mind.

Erza smiled. "Good idea Lucy. Where are we, Dolby? Speak now or suffer the consequences". She directed this threat to the scout.

"Fourth district, Area 2: Seaside farms, twenty dragonflights away from the capital, and a quarter of a dragonflight away from Burke's Barracks, where my post is, ma'am!" Dolby spoke as quickly as he could, hoping that if he could answer fast enough, she wouldn't kill him. Now that Erza had a good look at him, she noticed he was little more than a boy, under that hollowed-out animal skull helmet. His scout's attire, in addition to the helmet, consisted of a black, scaly leather body and black riding chaps of the same material. He played with the long, auburn locks that peeked out of the top of the helmet out of nervousness.

Gray looked at the ground, thoughtfully. "Burke's Barracks... I've never heard of a place like that before."

"It's possible that we've been transported far away from Magnolia, and I suspect it has something to do with that purple light we saw before", Erza speculated. "For now, let's ask this scout to take us to a city, where we can find out where we are."

"A trip to the nearest city would take several days, ma'am", Dolby piped up nervously, trying to be helpful and increase his chances of survival. "For now, I could take you back to the barracks and you could speak with my commander." The wizards all looked at him, the attention making Dolby extremely uncomfortable.

"That sounds like a plan", Gray said, and Lucy nodded in agreement, "anything intelligent to say Natsu? No?" Gray shot provokingly at the flame wizard, but was stopped by Natsu's lack of a reply. Natsu remained quiet, staring at the creature that they had originally thought to be a dragon.

"Alright, let's go then. Take us there, Dolby" Erza commanded. Dolby looked at his feet, nervously shifting them from side to side, mustering up the courage to ask the scary woman a question.

"Ma'am? If I might ask out of curiosity, where were you all headed before you met me?", using "met" in the loosest definition possible of the term. Erza thumbed behind her, not even bothering to look at what she was pointing at.

"Over there." Erza was gesturing to nothing but a sandy beach and open sea.

"Without a boa-", Dolby was cut short by an intense glare from Erza. "Right! That's a fantastic place to walk to! Alright, let's get a move on then! Al over here can normally only carry three to four people at a time, but with you two being of such skinny figure, I don't think it'll be a problem", gesturing to Lucy and Erza, trying to appeal to the women with compliments.

"As if that's going to work", Lucy said, giving him a look. Erza's face, however, seemed to brighten.

"Alright, let's get a moving then." Erza spoke to Dolby, but this time, not unkindly and moved toward the creature with Gray shrugging and following behind her.

"Natsu, are you coming or what?" Lucy called to Natsu, who was still staring at the dragon-like beast.

"Wait, what? We're flying on that thing?" Natsu turned an unhealthy shade of green. "I think I'm going to be sick", he put his hand over his mouth, the motion sickness kicking in at even the thought of transportation. Lucy slapped her forehead with her palm and shook her head.

"Sometimes..." she grabbed Natsu by the wrist and tried to drag him onto the unhappy creature, who was already finding the armored, red-haired female to be two passenger's worth of weight. He grunted in annoyance.

"Just hang in there buddy", Dolby patted him tenderly, as Natsu screamed that he didn't want to go, until he was Lucy Kick-ed onto Al, adding his weight, as well as the blonde girl's, onto the back of the poor creature. Dolby looked behind his shoulder, to see the black-haired man, who was now only in his boxers for some reason, laugh at the fire wizard, who had turned an unhealthy shade of green. "What have I gotten myself into this time?" he thought to himself, his feelings shared by the overburdened pseudo-dragon.


	6. Chapter 5: The Barracks

The flight from the farms to the barracks was enjoyable for all, save two members, of the traveling party. The first exception was Natsu: the fire wizard struggled to keep his breakfast down as the creature bobbed up and down, jerking and darting, it's wings flapping at maximum capacity, trying to stay afloat with the massive load on it's back, weighing it down. This made the creature the second exception: it grunted frantically at its original rider, desperately trying to get his attention, so it could get him to drop the excess load. However, Dolby, having finally worked up the courage to speak to Erza, first in a timid, quiet voice regarding safety instructions while on "Al", as he called the beast, was now excitedly pointing out landmarks to the team, who were stunned by the scenery.

"Those purple crystals down there, those are the lavender mines; it's where we mine the precious gems that can store energy. We call them wizard's crystals, because they're commonly used by wizards to imprint magic sequences and spells", he explained in an excited tone, eager to impress Erza with his knowledge of the land. As the trip had progressed, Dolby had warmed up to the Fairy Tail team, as Lucy, and even Erza, has smiled at him and treated him better than anyone had back at the barracks. They treated him as an equal, unlike the stuck-up Fourth Division soldiers who wouldn't even acknowledge his existence.

"Wow! They're so pretty!" Lucy gasped at the refractive rock formation Dolby had pointed out. Tall, deep violet spires of crystal and precious gem seemed to burst forth from the ground, reflecting and bending the light around them, such that their surface coalesced with iridescent rays of striking indigo and gentle lavender. Rainbows danced across their surface, the crystals seeming to shimmer in the bright sunlight, changing their form and moving as though locked in some eternal, ethereal dance.

"Mmph-ughh", Natsu groaned as the draconic creature shifted it's weight, bucking swaying while doing so.

"Would you pipe down, Flame-brain? You're ruining the view for everyone", Gray snapped at Natsu. "So this is what lacrima rock looks like over here", Gray raised his eyebrows in wonder.

"Mmm", Erza nodded in agreement, "but have you noticed yet?" She pointed to the largest crystal by far, a colossal sheet of violet that rose from the ground to almost their level in the sky, dwarfing the crystals above it.

"Yeah that's a pretty big one." Gray commented.

"Not that. Look closer at its colour. Haven't you seen that before somewhere."

Realisation dawned on Lucy all of a sudden, and she yelped in surprise. "The purple light behind the tree! There was a stone like that in the middle of it!"

"Precisely", Erza nodded once more. "It might have something to do with how we got here. Good eye, Lucy. I thought I was the only one who noticed it."

"The flash blinded me, so I couldn't see anything", frowned Gray, clearly upset that he didn't see it too. "Hey squinty-eyes, did you see anything like that?" Natsu made an unintelligible noise, similar to something that would come from a dying animal, and covered his mouth with his hand. "Guess I wasn't the only one then", Gray shrugged, seeming to understand Natsu perfectly well.

"We're here", Dolby called behind him. Beyond them lay a large hill of dry earth, pocked and blackened, as though a harsh battle had taken place here, recently. Atop it's crest stood an obsidian fortress, battlements blazing under the sunlight, reflecting off the colossal slab of black rock. Al flew inside one of many openings at the rear, flanked by admired guards and just wide enough to fit the creature and his load without colliding with the sides of the opening. The wizards alighted on granite floor, unburdening the relieved creature, as two of the armoured guards protecting the entrance approached them with apprehension, black spears raised and aimed towards the Fairy Tail wizards.

"Scout! Why have you brought outsiders into the stronghold? Under whose orders did you bring them here?" The leftmost guard barked at him, eyes still trained on the wizards, should they try anything funny.

"No one's, sir! They come from a faraway land, and have travelled many miles to meet with our commander, sir!" Dolby saluted, inwardly praying that his improvised backstory for the team would be enough to persuade the guard to let them see the commander.

The guard eyed them suspiciously. "What business do you have with the commander?"

"We've come to enlist in your division as soldiers and fight!" Erza stepped forward, brandishing her sword, quickly catching on to Dolby's ploy.

"Ha! What could a mere woman, such as yourself, do for the army? You're better off picking oranges with your pretty friend over there", the second guard scoffed, eyeing Lucy.

"Now, now fellows, that's no way to treat our guests!" A man clad in silver armor strode toward the group and offered his hand to Erza, who took it cautiously . "Pontius Dragonslayer, at your service." A gold circlet, emblazoned with twin carvings of dragons breathing fire, bound to his temple straight sheets of flowing, black hair. He did a mock bow, as he ran his eyes over the unknown visitors.

"Lord Commander, sir!" The guards saluted, clicking their heels upright in unison and snapping their right arm to their left shoulder, and slapped their other arm to the side, all in one sharp motion.

"Get back to your posts", the Fourth Division Commander ordered, and the guards obediently marched back into position. "Shall we go somewhere more comfortable, where we can talk more privately?"

Following a series of winding corridors, and misleading stairs (a passageway so complex that Natsu even began to feel sick once again), the team found themselves in a large throne room, lined with copper braziers and white marble floors, at the head of which sat the Lord Commander on a giant, silver throne. "Like it?" He chuckled, gesturing to his seat. "This throne is forged from Dragonsteel: a privilege granted only to those deemed worthy enough by the Emperor, such as myself ." His bragging, in addition to his overconfident tone, was enough to irritate more than one member of the team. Even Dolby, crouched in a nearby corridor, watching the conversation, rolled his eyes.

"Hey, do you have anything to eat? I'm starving!" Natsu complained, speaking for the first time since they had gotten on Al, now fully recovered from his motion sickness. Gray tried to clamp a hand over his mouth, but was too late.

"Tch! Such insolence! Don't you know who you are speaking to!" An old, wizened man hunched over next to the throne, supporting himself with a wooden staff.

"Should I dispose of them?" A youth with medium-length, jet-black hair casually glanced a Natsu and the others, looking seemingly unconcerned by the fact that Natsu had acted in such a way toward the commander, despite what he had just asked. His appearance and demeanour was not unlike Rogue's, Lucy noted, however there seemed to be something darker and much more malevolent than Rogue' personality lurking under the surface of this person.

The Lord Commander held up a hand. "No need, Shadow." He looked back towards Natsu, this time a steely look in his eye. "Refreshments can be arranged, as long as you can prove you're not spies. Otherwise, I'll have you executed publicly tomorrow." His eyes betrayed that this was no empty threat."I'll ask once. Where did you come from?"

Erza stepped forward and answered on behalf of the team: "We do not know. We were transported here by a strange purple light."

The Lord Commander's face darkened. "Purple light, you say?"he spat, grinding his teeth between words.

"Wizard crystal! The rebels must have brought them here; they're allies of the traitors, my lord!" The old hunchback pointed his staff angrily at Natsu, shaking with the effort, before leaning on it once more. "Arrest them!" He ordered the guards flanking the room, and broke into a fit of coughing. Dozens more poured out of side corridors and raised their black spears at the Fairy Tail group.

"Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu ducked under one and, hand coated in blazing flames, punched the guard clutching it hard under his jaw, with a loud crack, downing the man. Clutching the two spears adjacent to him, he coated them in fire and twisted his arms with superhuman strength, knocking the guards into one another on either side, collapsing on each other under the weight of the blow.

Icicles erupted from the floor, impaling some guards and trapping many others, as Gray worked his own combat magic against their aggressors. "Ice-Make: Death Scythe!", a massive blue, translucent scythe swept among the guards, knocking them aside and cutting swathes in their ranks, like trimmed grass. Erza, now clad in Heavenly Empress Armor, willed the blades swirling in the air above them, injuring soldiers and forcing them aside. In the team quickly moved toward the door, Lucy in the middle of the three wizards who left carnage in their wake.

"I have to pull my own weight, too." Lucy thought, clutching her keys. However, before she could draw one out and open a gate, a rough arm grabbed her and pulled her to the side, covering her mouth with its gloved palm. The stench of sweat and taste of dry leather permeated Lucy's nose and mouth and she gagged. Cold steel was pressed against her neck, the sharp edge of the blade digging into her neck.

"Stop! Or I'll slit her throat!" The guard from before, the leftmost one who had confronted the gang at the entrance to the stronghold before, held Lucy tightly, and pressed the sharp edge of his sword against her exposed neck. The three wizards stopped fighting and backed up against each other, each one glowering at the guard and cursing their carelessness.

"If you hurt Lucy..." Natsu snarled, angrier than Lucy had ever seen him before, visibly struggling to hold himself back.

"That won't be the case", a smooth, silky voice came from behind the guard. The new figure grabbed the guard's arm with the knife and twisted it behind his back, dislocating his elbow, the pain causing him to yell and release Lucy, who stumbled over to the rest of the team. She turned around, to set her eyes upon a familiar, handsome and slightly mischievous grin. "Loke!" The team called together, glad that the Celestial Spirit showed up when he did .

"How've you been?" Gray grinned. Loke pushed up his glasses with one finger, before picking a bit of dust off his right shoulder. "I don't think we've got time for small talk right now, Gray." The guards, recovered from the shock of Loke's appearance, were ordered into action once more by the old hunchback.

"They're wizards! They must be allies of the rebels, there's no doubt about it now! Seize them!" He croaked.

"Bring them to me alive!" roared the Commander. Shadow looked out at the spectacle in front of him and smirked.

"Why bother with these half-wits, Commander? I could probably do it ", Shadow suggested half-heartedly. He looked at his fingers and picked at one, cleaning out the dirt from underneath the nail.

"They're my men", the Commander replied, not bothering to contest what Shadow had said. "It's unnecessary for you to interfere right now, they can handle it."

"Oh?" Shadow's voice took on a tone of mock surprise, as Team Fairy Tail, with the added strength of Loke and a recently summoned Taurus, burst through the main doors and out into a large courtyard, lined with lush, trimmed hedges and stone fountains. The team looked around for a means to escape, Lucy quickly spotting a path out to the battlements. "Maybe we can find a way down from there", she speculated, uncertain.

"There's no time to think; they're gaining on us!" said Erza, looking back at the crowd of soldiers. The team sprinted towards the battlements without a second thought, trying to escape their pursuers.

Meanwhile, back in the throne room, a certain Commander incessantly tapped the armrest of his throne, clearly irritated. An amused Shadow stepped forward and stretched his arms lazily. "Now?" he asked, his tone showing that he didn't care what answer he received.

"Fine, go", sighed the Commander, disappointed by his guards. Shadow clicked his neck and stretched his lips into an evil grin, displaying unnaturally sharp canines for the average set of teeth.

"Now we're talking."

Outside, the team managed to clear the stairs in a few leaps and bounds, Loke grabbing a protesting Lucy and carrying her in his arms. "Don't you enjoy being in my arms like this, my dear Lucy?"

"As if!" Lucy looked away and blushed slightly, pouting.

"There!" Erza called out to the team. "Our way down!" She pointed to a rampart at the end of the battlements, leading down somewhere. _Hopefully the ground_ , she thought. The Fairy Tail wizards doubled their efforts, sprinting toward the rampart, only to stop in front of a solitary figure that faced them, about ten meters away from them. _Not good,_ she thought, looking back. Strangely, though, no guards seemed to be following them.

Shadow, who normally sported a "don't give a damn" attitude, chuckled with glee. "Oh man, this is going to be fun." Suddenly, his face shot down toward the ground, as his entire body began to shudder. Then, he began to grow. His skin slowly grew pitch black, scales sprouting from him pores, mapping themselves along the length of his body. His nose and mouth elongated Into a vicious, black maw, and hooked claws sprouted from under his fingernails, gleaming viciously in the sunlight atop the stronghold. A tail snaked past between his legs, as spines folded up along the length of his back. Finally, two massive, black wings erupted from his back, as he let loose a deafening roar that seemed to shake the very foundations of the fortress.

In the blink of an eye, and a flash of black scale, a massive clawed hand swept down, with the intent to shred Erza to pieces. Era was faster still, leaping into the air, requipping dual katanas, as she sliced down upon the dragon's back, tearing through its wings. "Roar of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu unleashed a blazing, horizontal column of flame from his mouth, searing the dragon, causing to roar in pain. This was followed up by a devastating release of the power of Regulus in the form of a punch, as the lion spirit's power sent the dragon reeling backwards, stumbling into a wall of sharp icicles which pierced its back, trapping it.

"Alright, let's finish this in one blow and move past it", Erza called to the rest of the team. They all gave her a small noise of agreement, ready to move into action. The dragon, still stuck to Gray's ice wall and blocking the path with its massive size, was now rearing its head back. "It's about to attack! Dodge!" All five members of the team jumped aside, as the dragon let loose a torrent of black energy from its maw. An immense boom of thunder cracked the air, as black lightning crackled forth from the pillar of darkness, striking all five members of the team, without fail, as they fell to the ground scorched and wounded.

Lucy, battered as she was, attempted to get up, lifting her head and looking around, but felt her strength leaving her, as she slumped back down, the black lightning sapping her magic somehow. She watched through blurry vision as the dragon grabbed Gray, who was staggering to his feet, and flung him at Erza. "No", she thought her vision swimming, threatening to fall unconscious. She stayed awake long enough to watch as Loke left, his Gate closing as he ran out of magical power., as well as Natsu, the only left able to stand, struggle to take a few steps toward the dragon and hit it with a weak punch, barely touching its scales. The dragon's spiked tail whipped out from behind it's back, knocking Natsu off his feet, slicing through his calves and drawing what looked, to Lucy's fading conciousness, to be blood, before he, too, crumpled to the floor and went limp. "Nat...su", Lucy croaked, tears in her eyes, before the visible world before her swam into a blend of colours, followed by small bright lights, into blackness.


	7. Chapter 6: Team Happy

A stony claw darted through the darkness that had engulfed Happy. The cavern he was in echoing with the rough grating of bone against stony scale. Pinpricks of light formed at the very edges of the dark prison, as the claw gripped Happy's body and forced him out, as another claw of similar texture pried open the maw of the creature that had attempted to consume the shocked cat. Light streamed into the cavern, as Happy was yanked out of the carnivore's mouth, jagged teeth surrounding his escape, threatening to clamp down on him and drag him back into the creature's mouth, should he get caught by one. Happy shot past two massive canines, as he was plunged into bright, welcoming sunlight, the sun seeming to smile upon the fact that he was alive. Before he could fully relish the moment, the same claw that had set him free pulled him down, moving him away from the soothing light, towards the shadows. It then shook Happy, rousing him from his tranquil dreams of basking in eternal sunlight, bringing him back into reality.

"Happy? Are you alright? Happy, say something!" Happy weakly opened his eyelids, looking up at the worried face of Mirajane Strauss, black veins crackling across her face like static bolts of lightning, white hair pulled up by the knotted tip, as though by some unseen force.

"Aye...sir", Happy managed before a sharp pain shot through his left side, causing him to moan in pain.

"Happy!"

"Don't worry...about me...Natsu", he tried, before another sharp bite of agony coursed through his torso, tears pricking his eyes. He placed a hand cautiously to the side of his chest, and brought his paw to up to his face. The last thing Happy saw was a wet, ruby coating of blood that matted his blue fur, before he passed out, no longer able to tolerate the pain.

Happy awoke with a start, looking up at a white ceiling, flanked by two metal bars, from which extended the tops of bland, green curtains, suspended from the rods by white, circular rings. He sat up slowly and placed a hand to the leftmost portion of his torso, paw stopped by the soft padding of cotton and gauze.

"Happy, thank goodness, you're awake." Mira stood in an opening in the curtains, above a small wooden stool, which seated a young girl with blue twintails. Wendy reached forward and lay a gentle finger upon Happy's forehead.

"His fever's gone, and he seems to be able to move without feeling pain." She yawned, dark circles rimming her eyes, clearly exhausted by the intensive healing she had just performed upon Happy for the past two hours. "I'm glad I was able to help, Happy-san", she said with a tired smile.

The curtains on his left side were suddenly pulled back, to reveal a black cat with a scar below his eye, and an extremely attractive (in Happy's opinion) female cat with white fur. For a split second, Happy thought he saw a look of extreme concern on the face of the female cat, which delighted him to no end, before it was quickly masked by her usual irritated pout. "Carla!" Happy raised his paw in greeting, giving her a wide grin.

"It seems like you're well enough to talk again", she commented indifferently, sticking her nose in the air and looking away from Happy.

"Happy. I'm glad to see you are well." Panther Lily crossed his arms and nodded, approvingly.

"What, this?" Happy pointed to his bandaged side. "This is nothing, for a Fairy Tail wizard like me", he boasted, grinning widely, causing Mira to giggle at his bravado. "Hey, Mira, why are you laughing at me? I'm serious!"

"I know you are, Happy", Mirajane smiled at him kindly.

"Happy, you should probably get some rest now." Wendy spoke to him in a professional voice. "I'll need to clean your wounds and replace your bandages once every six hours. Remember to drink plenty of water, and eat well."

"Wait a second!" Happy exclaimed suddenly, remembering why he had flown to the guild in such a hurry in the first place. "Natsu, Lucy, Erza and Gray are all in danger!" He spoke in an urgent tone, the excitement causing him to fly into the air and frantically list all their names. "You've gotta help them!"

"Happy don't move about so much, you'll open up your wound!" Wendy warned.

"Their team is in trouble?" Mira asked concernedly, "What happened to them?" At this, Happy looked down, floating back onto the hospital bed, shifting from foot to foot nervously.

"I don't really know if they're in trouble or not, but they disappeared outside that scary lady's tree." He paused, as the worst-case scenario, in his perspective, occurred to him. "They didn't...come back to the guild without me, did they? They didn't leave on the job without me, did they?" Tears formed in his eyes once more.

"No, they haven't returned as yet, and Erza's luggage cart is still here in the guild, so I don't think they left either..." She trailed off, wondering what might've happened to them.

"Salamander's gone missing?", a gruff voice called from outside the door to the clinic, which was left ajar. Gajeel, who had happened to overhear the conversation as he passed by the clinic, to retrieve his guitar and suit from storage, walked in through the door and up to the hospital bed. "Oh, Salamander's cat, you're awake already."

Mira nodded, filling him in on the details of the disappearance, beginning with the submission of the cryptic request, and ending with Happy's description of the situation. "We don't know for sure what's happened to them, but it's strange that none of them have returned by now, especially since Happy suspects they've gone missing."

"Maybe if we go back to the forest, to the place they disappeared, we'll be able to find some clues as to what happened to them", Lily suggested.

"That's a good idea, Lily", Mirajane nodded her head in approval.

"Gi-hi", Gajeel smirked, "that's my cat. Lily! Let's go and find Salamander!" Lily smiled and nodded.

"Wait! I'm going too!" Happy called to them, as they walked toward the door.

"Happy, no. You're injured. You need to stay here and rest", Mira scolded the blue cat. Happy looked her square in the eye and spoke in a loud, brave voice.

"Natsu's my partner and my friend! If I was in trouble, he'd fight any number of enemies, no matter how beaten up he is, to save me! How can I call myself his partner if I can't do the same for him?" The steel in Happy's voice turned every head in the room. Standing with as much pride as he could muster, the tiny cat bravely faced down the stares of group gathered in front of him.

"Um, Mira-san?" Wendy spoke up in small voice, "I can go with them and make sure nothing happens to Happy, and I can apply first-aid to him if his wound opens up."

Mirajane looked at her with a concerned expression. "Are you sure you're alright to go? You've just done two hours of continuous healing magic."

Wendy nodded at her confidently. "I've recovered my strength already. I'm not as weak as I was when I first joined this guild." The determination on her face made it impossible for Mira to say know.

"Please, be careful", Mira pleaded with them. The last thing she wanted was for a guild member to get hurt, when she could've prevented it.

"With spirit like that, you have nothing to worry about", Lily crossed his arms and smiled. "Then, shall we leave?"

"Team Happy, away!" Happy raised his paw in the air, as he led the members out of the clinic: an amused Lily, a much-less amused Carla and a giggling Wendy. Only Gajeel remained in the doorway, stopping the team short, as he cleared his throat to get their attention.

"We're still missing someone who's smart enough to solve the mystery", Gajeel said, oblivious to the offence he caused to some of the members of the search party. "I know someone who can fill that gap", he finished with a "Gi-hi".

"Levy-chan! Who's better at drawing, me or Jet?" Droy brandished a sorry looking scribble of pen-marks on a piece of paper, whilst Jet held up a crumpled paper with a mass of squiggles.

Levy sighed. It was always like this with these two; for best friends, they only couldn't seem to get along when she was around. Suddenly, she felt a strong, yet somehow gentle, hand on her shoulder, as a rough voice addressed her. "Hey, shrimp. Want to go into the forest with me for a sec?" Levy froze, not dating to turn around, otherwise Gajeel might see her face turn a bright pink in colour.

"Wh-what do you want to do with me there?" She stammered, her heart pounding in her chest so loudly, that she was sure he could hear it. A million scenarios ran through Levy's racing mind, notably some involving Gajeel asking her out in one way or another. Levy shook her head and and slapped her face.

"Uh...shrimp?" She turned around to face him, thankful that the blush in her cheeks could be attributed to the embarrassment of her sudden action.

"Alright, fine. Let's go." Levy snapped, irritated by how stupid she had made herself look.

 _What's her problem?_ Gajeel wondered to himself, scratching his head, as he followed her to the doors to the guild hall, where the rest of the team waited outside.


	8. Chapter 7: Escape

The sound of rusty metal grating on hard stone echoed through the dimly lit cell, as Natsu attempted to stand to his feet, only to feel the cold restraint of iron shackles digging into his lower forearm. He sat back down, sliding the clamps as low as they could go across his forearms, easing their contact against his wrists. He looked down at angry, red skin, rubbed raw by the metal for a full three hours, as The fire wizard struggled to break free of his restraints. "Damn chains! 'll show you! I'll melt through you like it's nothing!" he shouted angrily at the cuffs, shaking his hands in frustration and rattling his chains, which protruded from heavy, thickset iron bolts in the wall. "Roar of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu inhaled deeply, preparing to melt the thick iron that held him.

"Natsu, don't!" Erza shouted quickly, but it was already too late. Fire flared up inside Natsu's nostrils and mouth, as a pillar of flame blasted out towards the shackle and chain. However, as the fire left Natsu's mouth, it was quickly diverted into a large red crystal, a foot in diameter and embedded in the centre of the cell, which absorbed the inferno in seconds. The immense ruby then began to hum, radiating an unearthly glow, growing brighter in an identical manner to the purple crystal that had landed the team in this mess, as it sparked and crackled with growing intensity. Finally, when it seemed to be at the pinnacle of its radiance and power, scarlet lightning arced out of the gem, striking Natsu and electrocuting his body. Chains rattled once more, as the Dragon Slayer slumped to the ground, charred and blackened.

"Natsu!" Lucy jerked forward, at the sight of her friend collapsing, but winced as sharp metal dug into her wrists. "Natsu! Say something!" Natsu remained motionless, as Lucy began to sob, the pain of seeing her friend in such a state, paired with the hopelessness of their situation, overwhelming her.

"He'll be fine." Lucy looked to her right, to see a soot-stained Gray looking at her, confidence in his eyes at what he said. "I got hit by that earlier when I tried to freeze the cuffs off, remember? Do you honestly think Natsu would let something that I survived, kill him?" Lucy wiped her tears with her shoulder and nodded, giving Gray a small smile.

"You thought that would kill me? You've gotta be kidding me, even Happy can hit harder than that!" As if to prove Gray true, Natsu shakily sat up and looked at the two across him, with an expression of absolute determination. "I swear I'll get us outta her, Luce. And then 'll pay them back ten times over for making you cry!" Even in the dingy lighting, they could all see the fire in Natsu's eyes. He had made the same expression when he had fought Master Hades, Jellal, and even Laxus when he had betrayed the guild. It gave his opponent a very clear message: you hurt my friends, and now I'm going to hurt you.

"Natsu...", Lucy looked at him, tears filling her eyes again, but this time for a different reason. These were the same tears that flowed down her cheeks when Natsu had charged into Phantom Lord, not willing to give he up to them even if it cost him his life. She smiled at him, the heat of his fiery expression filling her heart with warmth. "I'm sorry everyone, for losing hope before", her gaze still fixed on Natsu's steely gray eyes for a few more moments, before looking around the room, into the faces of the rest of her friends "I just don't want to see any of you getting hurt. We'll find a way out of here without magic, I know we will", she put on a brave smile.

"I'd bet on that", Gray grinned back at her.

"You've already won that wager, then." A voice called out from beyond the iron bars, inside the impenetrable darkness of the prison. Dolby stepped into the vision of the team, a mischievous grin on his face.

"Dolby!" Erza exclaimed, voicing the surprise of the entire team. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to break you all out. The Lord Commander made up a story about you being rebel spies, breaking into the stronghold so you could steal our battle plans and launch a sneak attack involving his assassination." He explained this quickly to the team, trying to convince them that this wasn't a trap. "He said that you manipulated Al into flying you into the stronghold and present yourself as ambassadors of the First Division King's Guard, sent to help with training new recruits. He told me to keep quiet about me bringing you here, and put all the blame on Al. And now he's...he's...", Dolby choked back a sob, unable to continue.

Erza stood up as much as her chains would allow her, back against the wall, as she looked him square in the eye, catching his attention, even in the dim light. "What did they do to him, Dolby?"

"They're going to kill him", Dolby whispered, afraid to say it aloud , as if acknowledging it verbally would make it happen. "Please", he begged Erza, "save him." As he pulled out a gem, similar to the one in the cell floor in every way, except size, and threw it at the crystal holding the Fairy Tail wizards captive. The gem stuck to the side of the crystal instead of sliding down, both precious rocks humming and crackling as they struggled to overcome the other's power. "Quickly, while it's still distracted!", he gestured at the prisoners in front of him frantically, wiping the tears from his eyes. Searing flames melted the iron around Natsu's wrists, as ice enveloped Gray's, shattering their restraints with a swift smash on the wall behind him. Erza sliced through her chains and split her manacles with two floating blades, before using one that she held to strike Lucy's bonds. Before long, all the members of the team were outside the bars, now bent and broken, rubbing their relieved hands and wrists. "Alright!" Natsu pounded his open palm with a fist. "I'm all fired up! Let's kick some ass!" He attempted to run down the corridor towards the bolted, cast iron door that led out of the prison, before he was stopped by Gray pulling on his scarf.

"Would you wait for one second, before you go charging out there? I want to beat those guys too, but I don't think we can do it right now. First of all, we've gotta save this kid's dragon-thing."

"His name is Al!" Dolby protested, not pleased that his best friend was being referred to as "dragon-thing".

"He's right, Natsu", said Erza placing a. hand on his shoulder. "We don't know anything about this place or the people in it. We still don't know the power that the dragon used to defeat us in one blow, and if he does it again, not only will we be placed in the cell again, but Dolby will be punished as well." At this, Natsu calmed down enough for Gray to let go of his scarf, although his body seemed to remain tensed up, ready to spring into action immediately. He paced back and forth across the room, frustrated that he couldn't do anything right now.

"Damn it...I want to beat that Commander guy so badly and wipe the smile off his face", he fumed. Erza turned back to Dolby, who was looking at Natsu with a curious expression.

"Where is Al being kept at the moment?" Erza asked.

"He's chained to the grass in the centre of the keep, where guards always patrol frequently. I don't think we'll be able to get to him without being seen, but..." Dolby trailed off, looking at his feet uncertainly.

"We'll rescue him, don't worry", Erza smiled at him reassuringly, to which Dolby nodded slowly. "Take us to the courtyard. Have you got a plan for sneaking past the guards outside?"

"Oh, don't worry about them", Dolby waved his hand away, clearly unconcerned about the guards. "I drugged their drinks before I came in. They'll be sleeping like babies for the next five hours or so. Serves them right for trying to get drunk on duty! Follow me, I'll take you past them and to the courtyard.

After a series of winding passageways so complex, none of the fairy tail members could keep track, the team plus Dolby finally arrived at the corridor that led to a balcony, overlooking the courtyard where Al was being held. "Hey Dolby? I was just wondering: why weren't there any prisoners in the other cells down there?" Gray asked curiously.

"They usually only keep prisoners-of-war down there for a day or two, before they're transported to the capital to be judged for their crimes, or for the King to decide what to do with them" Dolby explained, "you would probably have been sent there too, if you had stayed for a day or two. We're here." Dolby stopped, at the entrance to the balcony, striding across to the edge and pointing down at something below. "There he is!" he whispered, fear flooding back into his system at the sight of his companion chained to iron struts in the ground, mouth held firmly together by a metal muzzle, wings pinned down by heavy weights, threatening to tear the delicate membrane, should the dragon move too suddenly. "He's in pain", Dolby stared at him and clenched his palms, sadness and anger clouding his usual bright, inquisitive expression.

"Lucy, I need you to create a distraction with your spirits on the first floor of the right and left towers, over there and there." Erza spoke with a a calm assertive voice, issuing instructions which were then obeyed by their respective recipients, without question. "Natsu, I need you to melt the links of the chains on his legs. Gray, freeze and shatter the muzzle on his mouth. I'll work on removing the weights. Move only after the guards are distracted by Lucy's diversion. Dolby," she turned to face the youth, "I need you to get Al up into the sky as soon as he's released and everyone is on him. Can you do that for me?" Dolby clicked his heels together and gave Erza a sharp salute. "You can count on me, Commander."

A loud bleating noise from the right tower startled the guards on patrol duty. They looked up to the first floor of the tower, to lay their eyes upon something unbelievable to them, standing tall in the light of a nearby torch. A bipedal goat, dressed smartly in a butler outfit bleated at them insultingly. "In meh experience, I have never seen such idiot brutes wear a guard's uniform. How much did your poor mothers have to pay your superiors to hire you?"

"An intruder! Get him!" A guard yelled, followed by a thundering of footsteps, as a stampede of guards ran up the stairwell to the first floor of the tower, futilely chasing after the sure-footed goat, who sprung from battlement to battlement, with ease.

A similar scene ensued at the other side of the yard, as Gemini, in their favourite guise of Lucy in a bath towel, ran past guards, causing mayhem wherever they went, flashing unsuspecting guards who then proceeded to chase them, for a variety of reasons amongst their responsibility to catch intruders.

"Kyaaaa! Why did they have to turn into me?" Lucy screamed, turning a bright shade of pink, as she struggled to scale down the tower wall, gripping the strong ivy that grew rampant around the tower, covering its surface in a mesh of thick vines. Dolby moved next to her, pointing out ridges and grooves in the gaps created by the flora on the tower, helping her down.

Meanwhile, Natsu, Gray and Erza, after swiftly navigating half way down the tower, all jumped from a height that would have injured an average person, and hit the ground running, making their way quickly towards the chained creature in the centre of the field. Erza was the first to reach, jumping forward and cleaving the weight on the right wing in two with her sword, with such precision that Al felt nothing more than a sharp gust of displaced air. Natsu slammed fiery fists into the shackles on Al's legs, shattering the two on his rear in a matter of seconds. Gray flash-froze the metal mask restraining the dragon's maw, about to snap it open, when Erza held out a hand to stop him. "Wait. Look at him; he's scared. If you open up the muzzle and he makes a noise, it'll attract the attention of the guards." Gray looked at the tortured anima, shaking its head in discomfort and making loud, grunting noises. He nodded at Erza and ran around to it's left flank, working on removing the shackle of its front leg, as Natsu did the same on the opposite side. As Erza split the last wing-weight in two and removed it from Al, it opened its wings and flapped them, once, twice, preparing to fly off and abandon the team below.

"It's leaving!" Gray shouted, as Natsu yelled for it to come back down. The guards around the edges of the field still hadn't noticed what was happening in the center, preoccupied by Lucy's elusive Celestial spirits.

"Dolby!" Erza shouted to the short figure running across the field with Lucy toward them. "Call him back down!"

"Al!" Dolby called in the loudest voice he could muster. The creature looked down, drawn to the sound of the familiar voice, and stopped its ascent upon seeing Dolby. Fond memories of him spending time with the boy flooded into his mind. _"Hey, Al!" Al gave his best friend a toothy grin as he approached the excited creature, something hidden behind his back. "Happy Birthday, buddy", Dolby smiled at Al, as he devoured the pleasant surprise of fresh tuna, grateful to his partner for remembering him. His best friend. His partner._ Al snapped back into reality as he made the decision to go back down for his friend no matter what. He dived toward the ground, landing heavily, class digging into the soft earth, as he snapped his head back and breaking the weakened muzzle with a loud crack. Al let loose a mighty roar, as he bent his head down towards Dolby, allowing him to climb on.

"Thanks, buddy", Dolby patted Al's neck, who growled softly in appreciation. "Will you take a few of my friends with us too?" Al grunted in annoyance, remembering the struggle he faced carrying the Fairy Tail wizards earlier. Despite this, he bowed his head, once again, allowing Lucy to climb on him, followed by Erza, who had just caught up to them, and finally Gray, dragging a reluctant Natsu onto the back of the creature. "Go now! Al!" Dolby urged the beast on, as it flapped its wings once more, adjusting for the extra load, rising into the sky.

"Shoot it down!" came a call from below. After Al had roared, the guards had finally noticed the creature's escape, making their way as fast as they could in their heavy, armored uniform, as Al and the escaped prisoners drew further and further from their reach. A flurry of arrows sailed up toward the wings, but were easily deflected by Gray's Ice-Make magic, icicles breaking the arrows midflight, as any that survived were caught on a large shield of frozen water.

However, just as it seemed the escapees were out of reach, a large black dragon rose into the sky in front of them, blocking off their escape. It drew back it's immense head, preparing for the devastating breath attack that had wiped out the team before. "Natsu! Aim for its wings!" Erza called over the roaring of the wind, created by high altitude and the buffeting of the large dragon's wings.

"Brilliant Flame of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu launched one of his more powerful attacks at the dragon, as Erza swiftly re-equipped into Heavenly Wheel Armor, sending a dozen swords into the heart of the flame. Both magics, realising they shared intention, merged with one another, a blazing inferno wrapping itself around dancing blades, heading straight toward the dragon. It realized this, and attempted to dodge, abandoning it's breath attack and beating it's wings frantically, trying to escape the perfect Unison Raid. However, there was no escape; the sentient blades, still coated in brilliant flames, altered their course and hit their intended targets. Sword edges pierced the dark dragon's wings, causing it to let loose a roar of agony, as Natsu's flames consumed its body. Defeated and wounded, the dragon dropped out of the sky, plummeting down like a meteorite and landing on the stronghold with a massive crash. Though not causing any visible damage to the building, the monster itself roared once more, before falling unconcious, the pain finally overwhelming it.

Team Fairy Tail cheered at their victory, as Al flew east, away from the stronghold and towards the sunrise, a gentle auburn sun slowly rising over the horizon. "Nice one, Natsu, Erza!" Lucy congratulated.

"I didn't expect that to work out so well", Erza commented, clearly pleased by the outcome of the attempted Unison Raid. Natsu chuckled, grinning widely from ear to ear.

"Wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it myself", Gray looked at the two in amazement. "But that still leaves one question: what the heck was that thing?"

"Perhaps I could fill you in on the details", an unknown female voice from behind the team piped up, causing all heads to turn around, save for Dolby, who couldn't hear the voice.

Mavis Vermillion sat swinging her legs back and forth, playfully, on the tip of Al's tail. "Hi everyone", she beamed. "How have you all been?"


	9. Chapter 8: Taken

Happy darted through the thick foliage that covered the forest, followed by the rest of Team Happy, as he had dubbed the group previously. He flew as fast as he could with his injury, warranting protests from Wendy, out of concern for his reckless speed. "Happy-san, please don't push yourself; you'll be unable to travel with us if your wound opens up." At the mention of this risk, Happy slowed down, as he was asked. Despite the possibility that every minute they wasted searching for the missing team, Natsu could be getting into more danger, Happy couldn't risk himself being unable to help Natsu when the time came, due to his own recklessness. Although this decision pained him, he knew it was the correct one.

"Don't worry about it Happy," he consoled himself under his breath, "you'll save Natsu, for sure." He said this last part less confidently than he would have liked, his resolve wavering at the doubt in his own ability.

"That you will. You'll not only save the Dragon Slayer, but the rest of their team as well. I believe in you, Happy." Lily flew up to keep pace with Happy, attempting to reassure the blue cat, who was obviously worried for his fire wizard companion. At this, Happy noticeably brightened and looked at Lily fondly.

"I'm glad I have you guys to help me out", he wiped his eyes with a blue paw and smiled at Panther Lily, who shared it with Happy, who he saw as his little brother: a little naive and misled at times, but with spirit strong enough, that Lily could be proud of his fellow Exceed.

"I don't mean to interrupt you two, or your little moment", Carla cut in, forcing herself to frown, not wanting to show her own embarrassing feelings for Exceed kinship, "but aren't you supposed to be telling us where to go?" She crossed her arms and pretended to be irritated at Happy's lack of focus.

"Aye, Carla! It's at that tree over there!" The three Exceeds flew, unobstructed, toward the centre of the clearing, whilst the two Dragon Slayers and the scribe were left to navigate past the bulging roots of the forest floor, proving to be a difficult task for the two girls of the tree.

"C'mon, Shrimp, you'll fall behind!" Gajeel grinned as he bounded from root to large root, unimpeded by the convoluted path the forest had created, it seemed to Levy and Wendy, just to deter normal travellers from passing through.

"Levy-san, be careful of the moss on that root; it's very easy to slip!" Wendy called, straddling the root after the one she was referring to, both almost as tall as Levy in diameter.

"Oh, it's alright, I was going to take this one anywa-AGH!" Levy had jumped atop a nearby root, just next to the one Wendy had warned about, almost immediately slipping on the wet twigs and dewy moss that appeared on its surface in large patches, as though the tree had broken out in leafy hives. She lost her footing and plummeted, face first, toward the other side of the root, on which lay a sharp, jagged rock. She closed her eyes, expecting the painful crack of broken bone on rock, but instead, fell into a pair of strong arms, her face plunging into cloth and muscle.

"Whoa there, watch yourself", upon hearing that familiar gruff voice, she stumbled away from its source, he frail body shaking with adrenaline. Her heart pounded in her ears, as blood rushed to her face, the shock of, not only falling toward the stone, but also of coming in such close proximity to the Dragon Slayer, jittering her.

"Th-thank you, you really saved me there", Levy managed nervously.

"Anytime, Shrimp", Gajeel laughed and turned, walking toward the waiting Exceeds at the clearing further ahead, missing Levy's face turn a bright crimson. She balled her hands into fists, and glared at the oblivious male wizard, irritated beyond explanation by his casual attitude toward a situation that could've possibly meant serious injury, or even death for Levy.

"Levy-san! Are you alright? Do you require healing?" Wendy called from the same root as before, making up for Gajeel's lack of concern for Levy's wellbeing.

"No worries, Wendy-chan! I'm fine, go on ahead!" _At least someone cares,_ Levy shot a piercing look at the black-maned youth that faced her back to her, looking up absentmindedly into the trees, elbows stretched above his head. _Idiot,_ she thought to herself, without the slightest clue as to why she was so angry at him for such a small thing.

The Exceeds and Gajeel waited patiently at the front door of Porlyuscia's house, as their slower companions finally caught up to them. "Hey, Shrimp, looks like you made it", Gajeel grinned at Levy teasingly, only to be ignored completely by the silently-fuming scholar, who walked straight past him without a word, much to the confusion of the iron wizard.

"Is this where you lost them, Happy?" she asked the blue cat, briskly. The Exceeds and Wendy glanced back and forth between the two, sensing the tense atmosphere between the two, and wisely deciding not to comment; Levy seemed to be in a bad enough mood as it was, and even Happy held back a snide "They liiiiiike each other", for once.

"It's actually around this tree, just over he-" Happy turned around and stopped short, as a giant, black snout landed directly in front of him.

"Salamander's cat, duck!" Gajeel called, Happy moving just in time to avoid a metal pillar shooting past him, hitting the dragon-like creature in the snout, resulting in a bellow of pain from the creature, which reeled back, wings scrabbling over the mossy undergrowth, searching for a grip for its claws. It backed away from the advancement of a second pillar, narrowly missing it's jaw by a fraction of a hair's breadth, as it stumbled into the treehouse, trapped and off-balance, unable to escape into the sky. "Sword-Edge of the Iron Dragon!" Gajeel's arm morphed into a jagged sword, which he prepared to slash at the creature with. Lily, now standing alongside Gajeel, standing tall in his battle from, raised his own sword, which poised to strike at the beast. The dragon-like creature, now afraid for it's life, whimpered and backed up against the bark, making frantic noises. It closed its eyes, waiting for the inevitable, as a small blue-haired wizard stood in front of it, and raised her arms in a protective stance.

"Wait! It might be important! There are some markings on its back, and they're the same as the ones in the grass over there!" Levy pointed to a burnt patch of nearby grass, which seemed to form a symbol of some sort. Levy whirled around, half expecting the creature to lash out at her and make its escape, as payback for her reckless, instinctive actions. Instead, the dragon-like creature simply lay its head on the patchy earth, and looked up at her with scared, sad eyes. "See? It's not going to hurt anyone! It's just scared. Come here, you", Levy cooed, attempting to coax the creature with her voice. It moved forward, uncertainly at first, but then nuzzled its scaly head against Levy's leg, purring. Levy had never particularly been one for animals; horses would never let her mount them at the stables she visited on one job, when she tried. However, this animal seemed to take a natural liking to her, as though it was comfortable being around a human, and knew how to behave toward one.

The rest of the team simply stared at the interaction, a mixture of shock and disbelief frozen on their faces, with even the normally unperturbed Gajeel at a loss for words. Finally, Happy spoke in a shrill, terrified voice, breaking their silence. "That thing tried to eat me! It's tricking you, Levy, get away from it!"

"Actually, Happy, it seems rather friendly", Carla spoke, eyes still firmly fixated upon the creature, in surprised at the thoughts that flowed out of her mouth instinctively. At once, she sensed the evident gentility of the creature, a feeling which was shared by every member of the team, for some reason, including Happy, once Carla had pointed it out. It seemed nothing like the thing that had attacked Happy, previously. "It probably thought you were a bluebird before", she commented sarcastically, finally composing herself, recovered from the shock

"That's so mean Carla", Happy protested, instigating a bout of shared laughter by the team, Carla's joke diffusing the tension of the situation. The creature looked around at the team inquisitively, and focused its eyes on Happy, bowing its head and looking up at him solemnly, as if understanding the situation and apologizing. This raised a few eyebrows among the team, especially Levy's, who was completely fascinated by the animal and the markings on its back.

"Wow, this looks like one of the ancient languages from before Zeref's time...I think I've seen this before in a book, but these runes were thought to be fictional, and treated no more than a myth. However, if my suspicions are correct, this could be the language of the dragons!" She finished excitedly, the mention of the strange language piquing the curiosity of every member of team Happy.

"Hold it. I don't know what this thing is, Shrimp, but it sure as hell ain't a dragon. Look at its wings; they're attached to its arms", Gajeel pointed out a layer of rough, scarred tissue that seemed to weld the leathery wings of the dragon-like creature, and its thin, bony arms together. It licked the uneven seam of its left wing and its arm, growling in discomfort at the damaged flesh.

"What could have done this?" Wendy looked at it, sadly, almost on the verge of tears at the suffering of the creature. Even Happy, still not over his grudge towards the beast, felt sorry for it.

"Something has certainly done harm to it in the past", Lily folded his arms and shook his head. Everyone remained silent after that, saddened by what this poor animal could have gone through in the past.

"The runes extend toward the base of its spine, and over to the other side of its torso", Levy pointed out, eager to change the subject of conversation to one that was less depressing. "I need to get a closer look to confirm these symbols, if I could just..." Levy trailed off, frowning in concentration, as she placed a foot on a small ridge on the side its torso, slowly hoisting her petite figure above its left wing and onto its back. She gripped the spine in front of her tightly, as she rested on a spine behind her, looking down at the runes that seemed to have been branded on the animal's scales in fire. Suddenly, as if hearing a noise that nobody else could, the creature perked its neck upright, shuddering all over, as it cocked it's head inquisitively toward the left. Without warning, it flapped its wings once, twicea and shot off into the sky, Levy still holding onto the spine for dear life, gusts of wind whistling past her face with every wingbeat, as the creature streaked higher into the sky, quickly gaining altitude. "AHHH!" Levy screamed, her voice drowned out by the roaring of the wind.

"Levy!" Wendy and the Exceeds shouted in surprise.

"Shrimp!" Gajeel called out, cursing at his stupidity for leaving her alone with that thing, and sprinting off in the direction it had flown. "Cats! Fly ahead and keep an eye on that thing! Tell me where it goes!" he called behind him, not waiting for a response. He would save Levy, no matter what it took.

"Aye sir!" Happy began to fly towards the direction Gajeel had left, before he was stopped by Lily. "You can't fly as fast as us while injured. You stay here with Wendy and Carla; I'll go after that thing with Gajeel."

"As if to say we aren't coming too! Hmph!" Carla declared, indignantly.

"We're Team Happy", Wendy smiled at Happy, who was delighted that she had used the team name he had made, after himself. "Happy can ride on my shoulder. You and Carla can fly ahead and assist Gajeel-san", she offered.

"I don't like the idea of leaving you alone, but I think you're right; we can't afford to lose the dragon", Carla reluctantly accepted the idea

Lily crossed his arms and shook his head "There's no way you and Happy will be able to catch up to us, Wendy. We've already wasted enough time having this conversation; we need to be there before Gajeel loses sight of it through the trees. Wendy, take Happy back to the guild."

Wendy shook her head and smiled. "Lily-san, Happy has already made his intentions clear. I'm a Fairy Tail wizard as well; I can't afford to let down our guild name and not help save Natsu-san and the others. We're going with you. As for catching up," Wendy raised her hands in the air and her head to the sky, preparing to cast a spell. "Vernier!" Wendy's body moved with the grace and speed of a cheetah, as she danced across the tops of roots that she struggled to climb over before. "Are you coming, everyone?" she called behind her.

"Aye, sir!" Happy flew over to the twin-tailed girl and perched atop her shoulder, as Carla smirked at Lily.

"That's Wendy for you", the white cat said to Lily, proud of the little girl's determination.

Lily smiled, finally conceding to the iron will of the Fairy Tail wizards. "Very well, you have impressed me with your resolve. Gajeel is probably waiting for us. Team Happy!" Lily winked at the blue cat, "let's go!"

"Aye sir!" came the collective response of the team, determined to rescue their friend.


	10. Chapter 9: The Land of the Dragons

Almost all of the Fairy Tail members' jaws dropped at the sight of the cheerful ghost of the First Master, swinging back and forth on Al's tail without a care in the world. She giggled at their expressions, as if her being there, balanced precariously on the tail of a black winged lizard, in this strange place, was as natural as flying was to this creature, or as fire was to Natsu. Strangely, she seemed to fit into place perfectly, in the absurd scene, as if she was a part of team Fairy Tail herself, journeying on the back of the creature with her fellow guild mates.

"First Master...", Erza managed, too stunned to continue further. Gray and Lucy were equally baffled by the sudden appearance of the small, female ghost, simply staring at her with blank expression, mouths still open. Natsu, on the other hand, seemed to follow Mavis' example, treating the situation as completely normal, simply taking in everything as it came.

"Yo! First Master! Long time no see! How's it going?" Natsu greeted her casually, whilst the remaining members just opened and closed their mouths like goldfish, still unable to put thoughts into words at the sight of the ghostly girl.

"Hello Natsu! Are you enjoying Drakonia so far?", Mavis asked cheerily.

"Wait...Drakonia?" Gray asked, no longer willing to think upon the sudden appearance of the First Master, as he valued his sanity, decided to pretend like she was there the whole time.

"Please explain, First Master. We were brought here by a strange light, and we have no clue what's going on", Erza stated calmly, following Gray's example to suppress the shock of Mavis' arrival, forcing herself to ignore it. Now, only Lucy looked around in confusion, as everyone but her seemingly understood the situation perfectly well, casually speaking to the little ghost girl, balanced on the tail of a creature mid-flight, in a strange land called Drakonia..

"Is this a dream? Am I going crazy?" Lucy looked down at her hands and rubbed them together, starting at the fact that they were real. Near Al's head, the original rider turned around, thinking that Lucy wasn't the only one who was going insane. To him, the Fairy Tail members seemed to be greeting, as well as making directed inquiries to, Al's tail, which they referred to as their "Master" or something similar.

"Um, you guys back there, who are you talking to?" Dolby asked cautiously.

"The First Master. Who else would we be talking to?" Natsu grinned and pointed to Al's tail, seeming to confirm Dolby's fears: that they had all gone mad and began to worship Al's rear end.

"Right. No worries, just making sure", Dolby snapped his head back, pointedly focusing on the open sky in front of him, eyes pointed straight ahead, too scared to question any further, for fear of the absurd answers he might receive.

"Uh...that's not-" Gray began to explain, but was stopped by Erza's hand.

"Another time. It'll take a while to explain everything to him", Erza whispered to Gray, careful to make sure her voice didn't carry over to the front of Al. "Besides, right now we need an explanation of our own." This was directed to Mavis, eyes twinkling at the team knowingly.

"Alright, there's a lot to cover. I suppose I should begin with the history of this place first. This land is known as Drakonia, roughly translated from Dragonspeak to mean: 'The Land of the Dragons'. There is a reason behind this name, which involves the creation of Acnologia, over 400 years ago." She paused, collecting her thoughts, before she began the story:

 _In the beginning, Earthland and what was known then as Gharus, were two worlds that co-existed in the same dimension, although a sizeable distance away from each other. Wizards in both of these worlds had made connection with each other for decades, the initial contact made by accidental exercise of telepathic magic. The wizards from both lands began to communicate more frequently, learning of each other's worlds and cultures, and finding a surprising similarity between the two, with many overlaps in things such as ancient tradition, language and, most significantly perhaps, control over magic. It was theorised that the two worlds were once connected with each other, but had gradually drifted apart, and thus, a joint decision was made by the respective councils of Earthland and Ghatus, to reconnect the two worlds. In the council rooms of both worlds, each world's wizards projecting their likeness into the council room of the other, the agreement was sealed, and two portals were opened by the twelve most powerful wizards of each world, one on each land, and the gateway was finally open, their power later transferred into hundreds of the highly absorptive purple lacrima endemic to Gharus. Smaller gateways were opened up all over each world, with at least one in every town, such that the inter-dimensional gateway was solidified. The wizards who had achieved this feat were bestowed the title of Wizard Saint for their deeds, a tradition that has carried on through the centuries, and remains prevalent even today. In this manner, Earthland and Gharus were joined as one, once more._

 _For a time, the bond between the two lands allowed them both to prosper. The free trade of resources that one land lacked and the other had in abundance, allowed for a mutually beneficial situation. New flora bloomed in the worlds, that the natives had never laid their eyes on, and creatures from one world seemed to crop up and flourish in the other. Magic, too, advanced in leaps and bounds, with the combined research of wizards from both lands, and soon, populations from the foreign world began to settle in the other, and the boundaries of the lands slowly disappeared. After about two centuries, Earthland seemed inseparable from Gharus, and vice versa: the two lands seemed to be more like slightly different countries than separate worlds. However, there was one important thing that Earthland had, and Gharus lacked, and that was dragons._

 _The dragons had left the human race alone for aeons, minding their own matters, as the humans minded theirs, treating then likewise. After all, dragons saw the humans as no more than food; not a sentient race. However, a certain dark wizard from Gharus, whose obsession with dragons brought darkness to the land, in the form of powerful demons, bent on destroying all living creatures, stirred the dragons from their peaceful ignorance. A war between dragons broke out, as they took sides: between dragons who hated humans and wished to exterminate their race, using the dark wizard as an example of their evil, and dragons who wished to befriend humans, and bestowed upon humans Dragon Slaying Magic. This was the Dragon's Civil War._

 _However, the new magic granted to the humans by the dragons had the adverse side effect of the gradual transformation of the user into a dragon, the more they used the magic. One Dragon Slayer, driven mad by the transformation into a dragon, slaughtered the great creatures indiscriminately, growing in power with each life taken, until he emerged as the King of Dragons: Acnologia. What few dragons who remained alive were either in hiding, or served as one of Acnologia's followers: dragons and transformed Dragon Slayers who obeyed the colossal black dragon's every whim, and in exchange, Acnologia kept them alive, as a source of entertainment. One transformed Dragon Slayer in particular, originally from Gharus, of bright white scale and red claws and wings, seemed to catch his attention. She was fearless in battle, and obeyed his every command without question. Acnologia named her his Queen and with her, he sired a brood composed of three chromatic dragonflights: red, white and black. These three dragonflights are still very important in Drakonia today. No longer human, nor completely dragon, Acnologia killed many dragons and humans alike, till he grew tired of Earthland, setting his sights on the adjoining world: Gharus._

 _On Gharus, Acnologia and his followers wreaked havoc, incinerating the world in an armageddon of silver flame. It was here that Acnologia claimed his throne, melting a massive plateau on the tallest mountain of the Gharus mountain range, to the north of the land. Acnologia, content that his power had no equal, set out to train the black dragonflight, who he believed shared his blood the most, being of the same colour scales as his own. This dragonflight grew vicious and power-hungry, fed by their father's example, and often terrorised the other chromatic dragons in Acnologia's dragonflights, believing them to be inferior. The Queen of Dragons, overcome by the sadness of seeing her homeland destroyed, as well as anger at what Acnologia had done to the black dragonflight of her brood, caused her to snap back to her senses, and realize the destruction she had helped cause. She escaped with the rest of her children, to Earthland, seeking the help of the remaining dragons, as well as the humans that still would listen to her, begging forgiveness._

 _Both races had suffered enough by Acnologia's claw, that they felt the pain and resentment that resounded from the former Dragon Slayer, as she proposed they put and end to the black dragon's reign of terror. The twelve wizard Saints of Earthland at the time, as well as a force of just under one hundred surviving dragons, were transported into Gharus, by the master lacrima, where the majority of the gateway's power was stored. Through this power, the attack force was transported to Acnologia's throne, where they attacked the black dragon whilst he slept. Acnologia, overwhelmed and seconds from being sealed, let loose a massive roar that shook the heavens themselves, as white fire soared out of his maw, raining down on the lands beneath them. Several dragons and three of the Wizard Saints were killed instantly, and the fire poured into the residual gateway that the wizards and dragons had used to arrive at the throne. The flames were so potent that they not only managed to cross the gateway, but also destroyed the master lacrima on Earthland, severing the connection between the two worlds. The force of the roar was so great, that hose dragons at the head of the attack force, were blown back into the portal along with the fire, causing the force to lose some of their strongest members. This, paired with the loss of three of the Wizard Saints, allowed Acnologia to slowly break free of the magic that chained, and threatened to imprison him, for eternity._

 _The Dragon Queen sensed the waning power of the wizards, and realized that a sacrifice was needed to be made in order to stop the mad dragon. She threw herself at his colossal head, breathing fire into his eyes, as his claws ripped into her, threatening to tear her apart. Still, she held on, determined to put a stop to what she had helped start. The massive dragon flailed about, crushing several smaller dragons in the process, as the Queen urged them to complete the spell, which would trap her along with the corrupted Dragon King. They reluctantly complied, knowing it was for the good of both worlds and the life that resided in it, sealing the two dragons within the mountain, for eternity. This battle came to be known as "The Dragon's Ire", due to the fearsome rage of Acnologia that had almost lost the wizards and dragons the future of the two worlds._

 _Peace returned to Gharus and Earthland once more, however the cost was great. Many lives were lost, cities reduced to ashes and the two worlds were torn apart, the magic required to build another gateway, lost to time. However, both worlds gradually rebuilt. The Wizard Saints, trapped in the world of Gharus, helped rebuild the magic council in Gharus, destroyed along with everything else during Acnologia's rampage, and helped the humans establish good relations with the dragons. The dragons colonized the mountains, making settlements of their own, allowing their own communities to grow. Over time, these colonies learned to live alongside the humans, and relationships between the two races flourished. For the first time in history, dragons and humans worked together, following the example set by the human wizards and dragons who had risked, and lost in some cases, their lives to defeat Acnologia. Gharus, once a land devoid of dragons, was renamed to Drakonia, and was forever known as the Land of the Dragons._

 _However, what became of Acnologia's brood? The Queen of Dragons, scared that her children might be oppressed in Earthland, due to their bloodline, hid them in the mountain range to the south of the newly created Drakonia. It was here that the two dragonflights separated: the red dragonflight migrated across the sea, eventually landing in a dense jungle, where they made their home. The white dragonflight remained in the mountainside living in seclusion to this very day. The black dragonflight, corrupted by Acnologia, remained in the northern mountain range, killing any dragons or humans that ventured near their residence. However, what is most interesting about these dragons was that they didn't remain dragons for long. Since their parents were originally human, human blood still flowed through the veins of their bodies, changed by the Dragon Slayer magic. Over generations, resistance was formed to the transforming magic, and more children began to be born as humans. Slowly, the dragonflights transformed into human populations, with one significant difference: their bodies retained the power to transform into a dragon at will. The Three Dracanei Tribes came into being._

 _Ten years ago, the capital of Drakonia was taken over by a group known as the Order of Humanity. The group is comprised of individuals that detest dragons, and seek vengeance against the dragons for Acnologia destroying Gharus in the past. Ironically, the reason they were able to achieve this was due to the help of The Black Dracanei: descendants of Acnologia's black dragonflight. However, such knowledge is only possessed by the dragons and the other Dracanei tribes. Over time, as dragons and humans grew apart once more, the Dracanei were simply thought to be humans with an extraordinary gift of transforming into a dragon. Thus, this allowed the Black Dracanei to manipulate the human communities into believing that Acnologia was just an ordinary dragon, and had no relation to them at all. This sparked hate amongst humans for dragonkind, as wounds older than themselves rekindled the old hatred of their ancestors, resulting in the Order. The Black Dracanei, who worship Acnologia in secret, have only one motive: to destroy dragonkind, as revenge for imprisoning the great black dragon. Currently, a tyrant council composed of the Black Dracanei and several human puppet leaders, rulesa the country from the capital. The dragons are becoming restless as their kind is persecuted by the humans, who are fed lies by the Black Dracanei, and war is imminent. This is the situation right now._

Mavis finished the story and beamed at the team, pleased that she still remembered all of it. Lucy's head buzzed as she struggled to take all the information in, as Natsu lightly snored, leaning on her. She had been so engrossed in the story that she hadn't noticed Natsu, who had lost interest after the first few sentences, doze off on her arm. She blushed and shoved him off her arm.

"Natsu! Can't you at least pretend to be interested? The first master went through all the trouble of explaining that to us, you know", she scolded.

"Huh, wha-", Natsu jerked awake, completely unaware of the situation around him.

"Never mind", Lucy slapped her forehead with her palm, scrunching her eyebrows in frustration. "Sometimes..."

"That still leaves a lot of unanswered questions. How did we get here? How did you find us? And what are we supposed to do over here?" Erza pointed out to Mavis, who smiled at her knowingly.

"I've been fortunate enough to travel here once when I was alive, which allows my ghost access to parts of this place. As for who brought you here, it's the person who sent you that purple lacrima and imbued it with the spell for retuning here; quite a complex one, as well as one of the Lost Magics. Not many people can travel from world to world like this. You should consider yourselves lucky!" Mavis giggled good-naturedly. "The person told me you would be coming, and so I thought I should fill you in on some details before you go out on this job."

"Job?" Gray asked, confused, resulting in Mavis smiling at him and pointing to his pant pocket.

"The request you read earlier. You should be able to read it properly now, as the magic hiding its true message dissipates once you enter "

Grau pulled out the crumpled piece of parchment, which had somehow reduced itself to a single sheet, with the dragon's claw mark on the centre. Above the claw were three words, written in bold print.

STOP THE WAR


	11. Chapter 10: Volcano

The dark, draconic creature seemed to disappear into the distance, reducing in size to a mere speck on the brilliant aquamarine sky above, as Gajeel struggled to keep up with the massive pair of black, leathery wings, whilst on foot. He stopped near a fallen log blocking his path, realizing that the creature had already flown out of his reach. More importantly, a heavy weight fell over his shoulders as he realized that Levy, too, had flown out of his reach. He slumped against the log, throwing his whole weight against the mossy bark, his back sliding down, rubbing against the rough bark behind him. He then let out a snarl of frustration, as he brought his fist backwards into the log, the solid bark splintering and shattering under his iron fist.

"Damn it, Shrimp!" he looked down at the ground, focusing hard on a twig that had snapped off the log when he struck it. However, the thoughts running through his mind were not of the flimsy, broken stick, but of scenarios in which he managed to successfully track down, and save the Shrimp, and then she would give him that cute smile of hers, and then she would lean in to his face, his head in her hands, and- "GAH!" Gajeel slammed his fist down on the twig, snapping it in two, shaking his head. He was confused as to why these stupid thoughts were filling his head. But for some inexplicable reason, he felt more determined than he ever had before; even during training, where his mind was solely focused upon the opponent he was preparing to defeat, he had never felt so strongly about doing anything before. It was as though, somewhere deep within his subconscious, a voice spoke to him with absolute conviction. He would find Levy. He would save Levy. And she would smile at him and- "Focus! What are you doing?!" He yelled at himself, angry that he was getting distracted by such a small, insignificant detail as a smile. This wasn't like him. He had his own goals and never let any distractions get in the way of them. So why was this happening now, when the Shrimp was in danger?

"It's not your fault, you know. She climbed up onto the dragon's back by herself", Lily's voice called from above him. A flicker of pink passed Gajeel's cheeks, before he composed himself, grimacing and avoiding Lily's eyes. "Gajeel!" Lily's strong voice called to him again. Gajeel looked up into the confident smile of his partner, flanked by Happy and Carla, who was carrying Wendy. "Are you going to let something like that stop you?"

Gajeel grinned at him, his doubts erased and his confidence renewed. "Gi-hi", he laughed. Although he would never admit it, he was relieved that he had friends on his side to help him. "As if it would. Lily!", Gajeel turned his back and called out to the black, winged cat behind him. Lily nodded his head, the message from Gajeel clear. He dived down and lifted Gajeel by the shoulders, carrying him into the air, followed by Happy, and finally Carla and Wendy bringing up the rear. They all set off in the direction of the creature's escape with Levy, each and every one determined to save their guild member, however none more so than Gajeel. "We're coming to get you, Shrimp", he whispered in a low voice to nobody in particular. "I'm coming for you."-

Levy began to scream as the creature suddenly dived, nose angled downward and moving at breakneck speed, toward the whatever lay below. Wind stung her checks, as her delicate hands clenched the grey spine in front of her tightly, as fumbling for a handhold could easily result in death, given the speed at which the creature was plummeting towards the ground at. Levy struggled to lift herself up into a more secure position, nestled in between two long, thick spines at the base of the creatures neck. Barely succeeding, she managed to open her eyelids, despite the wind that blasted against her face, in order to catch a glimpse of the creature's intended destination, and whether or not it was hard, unforgiving rock. However, compared to the sight that faced Levy and was rapidly gaining in size and proximity to her, some dry rocks seemed to be an appealing option.

Facing Levy, and costing her face in a fiery glow from the reflection of its light, was a massive pit of magma; in a crude estimation of its circumference, it was the size of several guild halls. Levy scrunched her eyes shut preparing for the inevitable and have her body melted off the bone. However all that came was an intense heat upon her body, followed by a sudden gust of air, as Levy was flipped upside down and corrected in vertical orientation once more. The breeze had completely died by now, and all that moved was the steady rise and fall of the creature's torso. Her eyes snapped open, as she looked around, to find that she and the creature had somehow ended up on a ledge with a ceiling of hardened earth, just above the glowing lava before them. Seizing the opportunity, she leapt of the creature and stumbled away, terrified of what it might do to her next, now that it had brought her to this place. However, the dragon simply looked completely uninterested in her movements past the point where it had landed on the ledge. It moved its head to the right, as if to attempt to communicate with Levy. It frantically gestured like this for a minute, before Levy, now having convinced herself she was not immediate danger, looked toward where the creature was signaling.

A large doorway of obsidian rock with small streams of lava flowing across its surface, as if laced with molten veins, stood twice as high as Levy and towered over her small figure. It was all she could do to stare at the behemoth of a ate in front of her, completely awed by its size and grandeur. This served as the frame to a writhing mass of substantial shadow, its black form rippling and shifting in strange patterns, as though it was composed of deep purple oil. Tendrils and wisps of shadow clung to the outside structure, as if tentatively reaching out to feel the outside of the gate, before darting back into the moving darkness. It seemed...alive somehow to Levy, as if the dynamic void that lay before her was sentient. Its movement, whilst random for the most part, seemed to have some semblance of repetition to them, as though it followed a pattern of some sort, the tendrils slowly moving to an ominous routine.

She backed away from the structure, only to be stopped by the rough snout of the creature, which gently nudged her forward, as if willing her to enter the unknown void. "Why do you want me to go in there?" she turned her face toward the creature, fear in her eyes. The creature cocked its head in what seemed to be a questioning expression, before it growled, and pushed her forward with its snout again, this time more forcefully. Levy lurched forward and stumbled to the ground, attempting to get up and move away from the creature and the darkness, however its advance was relentless, pinning her with its right wing and sliding her towards the gateway. Levy's eyes widened as the darkness seemed to approach her, tendrils snapping back and popping, as though they were beckoning her towards them. She struggled under the wing of the creature, but to no avail; her feeble movements were ceased by the blanket of leathery membrane that trapped her. Helpless, she opened her mouth, and screamed the first name that came to her mind: "GAJEEL!"

"LEVY!" A loud call came from above her, as a black maned youth leapt from somewhere above, and fell past the ledge, only to save himself with a single arm that grabbed it from below, his iron grip crushing the black rock under his fingers. With the arm latched onto the rock plateau, he launched himself effortlessly onto the platform, landing next to the creatures tail. He grabbed the spiny appendage in front of him, and with a mighty roar, swung the creature back with all his strength, forcing it a few metres away from Levy and at to edge of the platform. He then sprinted toward Levy and, grabbing one arm, lifted her up and looked at her with...was that concern Levy saw on his face?

"Gajeel", Levy smiled and unthinkingly threw her arms around his neck, then jerking back, realizing what she was doing. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking, I just-"

"Don't worry about it", Gajeel looked down at the ground bashfully and scratched his head. "It's no big deal."

"Th-Thanks for saving me", Levy managed clumsily, also concentrating on her feet, embarassed.

"Look out!" Panther Lily's voice came from the lip of the small cavern, his tone one of urgency. The pair looked behind them, to see the creature, having realized what had happened, roared as it moved towards them with dangerous speed. Levy, startled, stumbled backwards, straight into the impending void behind her. The tendrils drew back and seemed to hiss, as if avoiding Levy's touch, retreating to the edges of the portal. A hole of pitch black stillness opened up in the middle of it, a perfect circle in which no shifting darkness was present, devoid of all light and matter. Without warning, Levy was sucked into the nothingness, and would have disappeared, had Gajeel not grabbed her elbow, arresting her departure from the plateau.

"Hang on, Shrimp!" Gajeel called, digging his heels into the rugged rock underneath him, slowly losing his footing and sliding toward the portal. Panther Lily flew toward him, growing in size into his battle form, and grabbing Gajeel's elbow with determination not to let him go. Happy, Carla and Wendy, who had jumped from Carla's grip next to Gajeel, also grabbed different sections of Gajeel's arm, heaving with all their might, and allowing Gajeel's forward movement to come to a halt. The iron wizard glanced over toward the creature, and was surprised to find that it had stopped charging. Instead, it was seated on a slightly elevated rock, two metres away from the group, and was intently observing the commotion that ensued at the dark gateway.

"Pull harder!" Happy called, flapping his wings as fast as possible, along with Carla and Lily, who followed suit. Gajeel dug his back heel into a sturdy-looking rock, and latched his foot onto one beside it, such that he was firmly anchored to the ground beneath him. In this manner, the team slowly removed Levy from the clutches of the blackness. Her face appeared from the darkness, shaken, but otherwise fine, followed gradually by her right arm and up to the knee of her right leg.

"Heave!" Gajeel shouted to the team. Levy's leg was jerked forward, emerging from the void, until only her foot was caught. "Last one! Heave!" With a final effort, Levy's leg was about to be freed, until a loud cracking sound exploded from the rock below. The rock in front of Gajeel's leg gave way, causing the entire team to be thrown off balance, and into the blackness. The darkness absorbed their forms quickly, until the last of Happy's blue paw was seen disappearing into nothingness.

Wendy awoke to a bright light searing her eyelids, forcing her from her unconciousness. She rubbed her eyes, and looked around, seeing the rest of the team all standing up and looking up at something behind her, thankfully, all unharmed. "Everyone! You're all ok!" she called to them, however they did not respond, all engrossed in whatever they were looking at. Carla raised a paw, gesturing for Wendy to look up. She turned her head, to be met with the stunning sight of a colossal violet crystal, soaring up into the sky as far as the eye could see. She looked down, noticing that the plateau they stood on had transformed from dark, ash coated rock, into beautiful, glittering amethyst.

"Oh my god...it's the same" Levy gasped in awe, pointing up towards an engraving, about as large as the dragons they had seen during at the Eclipse, which was carved carefully into the smooth mountainside. It was the exact engraving they had seen in the grass where Natsu's team had disappeared


	12. Chapter 11: Wyverns

**A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long to finish! I've had a lot of schoolwork lately, so I'd expect my updates to be quite a bit slower in the future. I'll definitely update once a week, minimum, but anything more depends on how busy I am that week.**

 **Enjoy :D**

"So that's the job, huh? We just gotta beat up the king guy then?" Natsu finally came to this conclusion as soon as Lucy, irritated beyond comprehension at this point, attempted to explain the situation for the fifth time. Lucy held up her hands in exasperation, giving up on a lost cause.

"It's not that simple, dumbass", Gray shot at Natsu.

"Who're you calling dumbass, pervert?" Natsu retorted.

"Who're you calling pervert, squinty eyes?"

"Who're you calling squinty eyes, droopy eyes?"

"You wanna go?" A dangerous looking icicle sprouted from Gray's forearm.

"Bring it!" Natsu shouted, arm bursting into flame. Dolby looked behind at the rapidly escalating argument, which looked to be on the verge of breaking into a full-on brawl between the two wizards, terrified of what would happen if they fought on Al's back. He looked at Erza for help, who stood up, calmly strode over the dragon's spines and back, and smacked each of them on the back of the head with her fists.

"STOP FIGHTING, YOU TWO!" Erza's voice thundered over them, silencing the quarrel immediately, and causing Gray and Natsu to each throw an arm around the other's shoulders.

"Who's fighting? Gray, were we fighting?" A wide false smile was plastered across Natsu's face, as he attempted to feign innocence, to the red-haired monster glaring at him.

"Why no Natsu!" Gray squeaked in an equally false voice, equally terrified of Erza. The creature shifted its weight under them, moaning in irritation at their antics atop its already overloaded back.

"Poor thing", Mavis looked at the creature sympathetically, a spectral hand reaching out to stroke its tail. "It's terrible, what they have done to them."

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked, evidently interested in what Mavis had to say about Drakonia's strange denizens.

"This was once the kin of the noble race of dragons, of those with black scales. They were real dragons, unlike the black dragonflight of Acnologia. This little one here is living proof of their tyranny in Drakonia." Mavis took a deep breath, collecting the thoughts inside her head before she began. "This story is one of how the Black Dracanei gained the trust of humans, and persuaded them that they were not of Acnologia's descent. Several years ago, a certain young Dracan, made leader of their cult which solely existed to deprecate true dragonkind, realized that their war against the dragons was futile. Humans had grown increasingly tolerant of them over the centuries, and were on the verge of an alliance between the two races. This Dracan, armed with the knowledge that this would effectively mark the gradual destruction of their clan's existence, sought to destroy the flourishing relations between dragons and humans.

Through the power of their clan, the Black Dracanei were able to trap an adult black dragon: the mother of a new brood, who could not escape from them, else she sacrifice her young hatchlings and eggs to them. The broodmother protected her young fiercely, but eventually fell under the combined might of the Dracanei tribe, and was captured. The young leader of the tribe then arranged for a meeting with a growing organization in the capital: The Order of Humanity. He then proposed an alliance between the two groups, granting them the power of the Black Dracanei, in exchange for the support of the large numbers the Slayers possessed. The captured brood mother was used as proof of their claims to be unrelated to Acnologia, by insinuating that she was of the corrupt dragon's kin. The young Dracan slaughtered her before the Order's council, and gave them her hide as a token of alliance. The Order, who had not been able to take down an adult dragon for all the time they had existed, were astounded by the Dracanei's power, and agreed to their proposal, using the dragon's hide to make armor and weapons for themselves, as well as the Dracanei. This armor was then enchanted with Dragon Slayer magic by the Dracanei, through imbuing it with the power of dragon lacrima whilst the arms were still in the forge, creating enough anti-dragon weaponry for an army. Thus, the Black Alliance was formed."

"Hold up", Gray interrupted, his attention having focused on Mavis halfway through the story, "what does this have to do with this thing we're riding?" Further up the creature's tail, Al snorted in derision, realizing that Gray was referring to him when he said "thing". He contemplated whether he should flick the annoying black-haired man off his back, and lighten his load, before Dolby placed a hand on his side and spoke gently to him, letting Al know that he wasn't just a thing to him. Al purred in return, Dolby's sentiment reaching him further than Gray's off-handed comment. "Did...did it just snort at me?" Gray had looked back towards the source of the nasal grunt, which seemed to be aimed at Gray, somehow insulting.

"The "thing" seems to have feelings, Gray", Mavis giggled at Gray's ignorance.

"Shame on you Gray, for treating a friend like that", Erza chastised, in a manner that Gray found condescending.

"Sheesh, man. It seems like you're dumber than I thought", Natsu snuck in, with an impish grin.

"Well, how the hell am I supposed to know what to call it-him?!" Gray corrected himself, not wanting to be chided again by Natsu of all people. "You said he wasn't a dragon! What is he then, if you know so much about it, squinty eyes?"

"I don't know, but at least I don't call him a 'thing'!" Natsu shot back

"You're right, I was wrong about him being the thing; you're the actual thing, idiot!"

"Say that again!"

"You're an idiot thing."

"Why, you!"

"Why does this keep happening to me?" Lucy placed her head in her hands, silently lamenting her fate to be stuck with these two morons as team members.

"WILL YOU STOP THAT?" Erza shouted, causing Natsu and Gray to spring to attention once more.

"Aye sir!" Natsu and Gray chirped in terrified unison, arms around one another's shoulders.

"Please continue, First Master", Erza implored Mavis, her face apologetic for the flame and ice wizard's impetuous behavior. However, instead of irritation, a look of amusement played upon the ghost girl's face, her lips parting in a smile.

"This brings back so many memories..." Mavis smiled into the distance nostalgically. "Wyverns." A blank look passed upon the faces of the Fairy Tail wizards at the unexpected word.

"...Sorry?" Lucy looked at Mavis with an expression of puzzlement on her brow.

"That's what this little one here is. What do you think happened to the brood after they captured the mother?" A dark expression settled on Mavis' petite features, a terrifying anger in her eyes that the Fairies had never seen the likes of before. "The young Dracan leader was the first to develop a new type of magic: one that allowed human riders to tame dragon hatchlings, making them as docile as cattle. However, the process involved a transformation that left them warped and disfigured, causing their arms to merge into their wings, and stunting their growth permanently, as well as stagnating their brain development, such that their mental capacity could extend only to understanding human commands, nothing more. As a result of this, these dragons became mere husks of what they could have been. Eventually, as more of the thousands of eggs hatched into young dragons and warped with dark magic, they became their own tainted race of creature: these are known as wyverns." All went quiet on the back of the oblivious wyvern, as mixtures of shock, horror and resentment washed over the Fairy Tail wizards, like a tidal wave of hatred.

"Damn them..." Natsu's face darkened, and a vein appeared on his forehead, "I'll burn them all up, for what they did to dragons!"

"I hate to admit it, but flame-brain's right", Gray punched his fist into his palm. "Someone deserves a real beating."

"We'll stop the Black Alliance", Lucy said, with absolute conviction.

"And we'll win this war." Erza finished for her. The members of the team all smiled at one another, knowing that their thoughts and goals were as one.

"You'll stop the Black Alliance?!" Dolby, who had been barely paying attention to the incomplete conversation, shot his head back at the mention of the phrase. "Does that mean you'll join the Resistance with me?" The youth looked back at Erza hopefully. _With people as strong as them, maybe it's possible that the Order and the Dragon-men behind them can be defeated,_ he thought.

"What's the Resistance?" Lucy asked.

"They're-" Dolby was cut off by a flaming projectile that whizzed past his face, narrowly missing his eye and singing his hair. A great roar came from Al, as his rear end tipped downward, his wings flapping furiously. Erza's eyes darted down toward the wyvern's tail, noticing that Mavis was missing, and in her place was a net, weighted with large metal balls, which had wrapped itself around Al's tail spines, threatening to drag the team down toward the unforgiving mountain rock below.

"We're under attack! Dolby, fly away as fast as possible", Erza called, nimbly leaping down onto a tail spike, cleaving the net in two with a swift motion of her blade. Natsu leaped into the air, haphazardly launching a fireball at the hidden attackers below, whilst Gray sent lances of ice toward incoming projectiles, shattering them in midair. Sagittarius was beside Lucy, launching his own arrows toward what looked to be flaming arrows from below, each one hitting its mark and stopping its target's fiery flight. As Dolby urged Al higher into the sky, past the range of the arrows, it seemed as though escape was imminent. However, before any on the dragon could react, circles of magic appeared in the air, chains erupting from the spiraling runes, latching themselves onto Al's leathery wings, and dragging him toward the ground.

The sharp clang of metal on metal echoed around through the air, as Erza, now geared in Heavenly Wheel Armor, shot dozens of silver swords overhead, each slicing through a dark chain that threatened to drag them to the ground. A bead of sweat appeared on Erza's forehead, as the effort to maintain what had grown to hundreds of swords overhead, was made visible, as chains continued reappearing just as frequently as they were cut down. Gradually, Dolby managed to spur Al into flying up a few feet at a time, in between the volleys from below, and the chains from their sides, until the team seemed to be just out of reach of escape once more. However, just as the wyvern made his final effort, beating his powerful wings as hard as he could, to soar above the reach of the arrows, a large green claw shot out from below, latching itself onto his wing, causing Al to flail painfully in midair before plummeting toward the earth like a rock.

The team hung on for dear life, as their bodies were threatened to be ripped off the wyvern's spines and tossed into the air, from the speed of their fall. Dolby firmly planted himself between Al's neck spines, urging the wyvern to tilt up from the dive, however the grip of the claw was too strong for the poor creature, dragging it down further with every second. Lucy, eyes stinging from the wind rushing past her face, slowly reached into her key case and fumbled for a golden key, breathing a sigh of relief when she had successfully managed to draw it out. She raised an arm, as the black rock below them flew closer by the second, an impending demise for all of the members of the travelling companionship. "Aries!" Lucy shouted, drawing a figure into the air in front of her.

A loud "sorry for everything!" pierced the uproar of the rushing wind around them, as the team crash landed into a sea of soft, pink fluff, cushioning their fall, and springing them back up a few feet, before slowly dissipating into the ground. As the last of the cushion retreated below them, the team barely had time to stand on the ground, before dark chains surrounded all but one direction, nullifying their chances of escape.

"Yield, and we will treat you leniently!" A strong, commanding male voice boomed from the middle of the crowd assembled in front of the team. A man dressed in immaculate white armor, trimmed with gold, strode forward toward the wizards and their companions, planting his silver blade in the earth in front of them. Locks of jet black hair tumbled down onto his shoulders, and framed a chiseled jaw which ended in sharp cheekbones. Gray and Natsu moved forward into an aggressive fighting stance, before they were stopped by Erza, who gestured toward the entirety of the sight before them. A large, emerald dragon towered above them, its opalescent scales gleaming in the bright sunlight. A throng of armed men and women, collectively wielding a plethora of weapons and armor, including two-handed swords, , towering shields that stood several people high, and staves adorned with a variety of crystals, gems and metal trinkets

Erza, the only one who seemed unperturbed by the sight before her, stepped forward with a demeanour equal to the man in front of her, and planted her sword in a similar fashion. "We do not wish to fight unnecessarily. I am Erza Scarlet, S-Class Wizard of Fairy Tail Guild." She stated in a confident voice, holding out her hand to the armored man, by way of greeting.

"Levail, 1st Commander of the Empress' Guard." He flicked his long hair vainly to one side, before looking her straight in the eye. "Leader of the Resistance Army"


	13. Chapter 12: Jungle

**A/N: Sorry about the short length of the chapter; I've been particularly busy this week and have not had much chance to figure out the plot from this point onward. I'll probably just make up everything as I go along, and work toward the original ending I had in mind, since the beginning of the fanfiction. Please let me know what you think, your reviews are extremely important to me!**

"This is incredible", Levy breathed in awe at the monumental crystal mountain that rose up before her, into the clouds.

"Indeed", Lily nodded, "However we mustn't drop our focus from our current situation. For example, we don't know where we are, or what this place is. Look." Lily gestured behind him, at a scene even greater than the one in front of them. At first glance, it seemed that they stood above a brilliant carpet of viridian, stretching out to all corners of the horizon as far as the eye could see. However, closer inspection revealed that the carpet was composed of vast acres of a dense overgrowth of lush canopy, webs of leaves tessellating in beautiful sequences to form a solid sea of malachite, like scales on an emerald dragon.

"Wow...it's so pretty, isn't it Carla?" Wendy gawked at sight.

"This would be quite a nice place for a picnic", Carla agreed.

"This ain't no time for picnics", said Gajeel, bluntly. "Where's the thing that brought you here, Shrimp?" Levy whirled around, half expecting a giant drake to be waiting behind her, however all she saw was her crystalline reflection, without any trace or clue in the mountain as to how they had got here.

"Maybe it didn't step into the gateway?...But that doesn't explain why it brought me here..." Levy scratched her chin, deep in thought. "Anyway, let's try and work on a way to get back."

"Already on it", Gajeel grinned as his hand morphed into a pillar of studded metal. He drew his arm back, preparing to smash it into the purple crystal.

"Gajeel, wait! We don't know if-" Levy began, running forward to stop him, but was too slow.

"Pillar of the Iron Dragon!" Gajeel's arm crashed into the immense gem, with a force strong enough to splinter cinderblocks into smithereens, however his arm bounced harmlessly off the crystal's surface, jarring his arm and causing it emit a low humming sound, as though he had hit a church bell instead of a precious gem. The note rang throughout the air, intensifying in volume as the crystal began to glow.

"What did you-" Levy began, before she was interrupted once more, as if routinely, by a loud cracking noise. Bolts of purple lightning shot out from the runes in the crystal, striking the team, and knocking them off the narrow cliff they stood upon. The team fell towards the carpet of canopy, crashing into the treetops, their fall broken by various branches and twigs, until every last member tumbled into a sprawl of roots, vines and dead flora on the forest floor.

"Ow...", Happy rubbed his temples and shook his head, bruised from a particularly hard branch he had met during his fall. The rest of the team groaned and struggled to get onto their feet, the explosion having caught them off guard and discombobulated their sense of balance.

"Where are we?" Wendy asked as she rubbed her grazed forearm uncomfortably. Surrounding them was a dense jungle of roots, trees and vine, encircling the team completely. The thick foliage above blocked out any semblance of light to the trees below, creating an area of perpetual shade below the treeline, where the team now stood.

"I'll fly up and find a way to get out", Lily volunteered, setting a skyward course, bursting through the treeline, until he was atop the canopy once again. The crystal mountain stood before him once again, sparkling in gleaming splendour. However, as he neared its surface, just as before, it began to hum, shaking the very foundation of the jungle, causing another bolt of purple energy to lance through his tiny black body, causing him to plummet back to earth. He fell through the treeline once more, his body charred and injured, about to crash into the ground at a dangerous speed, before he was caught by the strong hand of Gajeel.

"Lily! Get a hold of yourself!" Gajeel yelled at the motionless cat, willing him to wake up. As if on command, Lily's eyes flicked open, taking in his surroundings, before he sat up and blinked, confused.

"Where am I?", Lily cocked his head to one side, considering the unfamiliar scene around him.

"We heard the crystal hum again, and a lightning strike, which probably knocked you out of the sky", Carla offered. "It's probably because Gajeel made it angry- hmph!" Carla stuck her nose up at the iron wizard, as though displeased by a child's misbehaviour.

"Gajeel, this is why you shouldn't act without thinking", Levy scolded him harshly, finger raised accusingly at him. "I told you many times, but you still wouldn't listen!"

"Big talk for a shrimp like you", Gajeel shot back.

"At least I'm not a walking dumbbell", Levy retorted.

"What was that?" Gajeel shouted, clearly ticked off. "I'm not the one who sits around doing nothing but read books all day! Why don't you do something useful for once?" As soon as he said it, Gajeel regretted it immediately. Tears filled Levy's eyes as she stumbled backward, falling over a root. "I didn't mean-"

"If I'm so useless, then why don't I just leave the team?" Levy shouted back at him, on the verge of bursting into tears. At this, she turned around and ran into the forest.

"Levy!" Gajeel called, but was held back by Carla.

"You've already done enough", Carla looked at him pointedly, as Gajeel's gaze shifted to the floor, a pained expression settling upon his studded face. "Come on, Wendy. Let's go find her." Wendy looked back and forth between Carla and Gajeel nervously, before nodding her head and obediently following Carla into the thick jungle undergrowth.

Gajeel stood in the dim light with Lily in his arms, sighing at his own blatant stupidity, as he slumped against a tree. "Guess it's just you and me, huh Lily?" he said half-heartedly.

"Aye sir! And Team Captain Happy too!" the blue cat appeared from behind Gajeel's shoulder, a blue paw raised in the air.

"Who's Lily?" Gajeel and Happy looked down at the black cat in shock, fixing upon the blank expression on their friend's face.

"...Lily?" Happy asked, cautiously.

"Is that who I am? And if you don't mind me asking, who are you people?" Lily's expression remained confused. Gajeel and Happy's eyes met, with a look that said things were about to get very interesting from here on out.


	14. Chapter 13: The Resistance

The ring of steel upon steel echoed throughout the cavern, as Erza's blade met with those of six Resistance fighters, the former managing to easily overpower the latter and send their owners flying across the field, tumbling into the path of a certain fire wizard. "Roar of the Fire Dragon!" A blazing inferno engulfed the soldiers in front of Natsu, causing them to scatter and roll on the ground, in a desperate attempt to quench the flame. Icicles lanced out and shattered against the few who escaped, knocking them back further yet. Those who had managed to escape not only the fire, but also the relentless assault of Erza's dancing blades and Gray's dangerous shards of ice, were quickly dispatched by a combination of powerful blows from Loke's fists and Lucy's ethereal whip. As the last fighter was downed, his great sword knocked cleanly out of his hands by Natsu's flaming fist, a tall figure, armored in white, stepped into the arena.

"Interesting", Levail nodded, his white armor gleaming in the dimly lit cavern. "You do, indeed, seem to be who you say you are." Erza's sword disappeared in a bright dazzle, as she strode over to him confidently, folding her arms in front of him with satisfied expression. "However, be that as it may, the story of your arrival from another world...forgive me but it seems quite unbelievable."

"It is as they say Levail", a great voice boomed from the corner of the cavern, as the emerald dragon from their initial encounter with the Resistance, moved in with a great stride, his head barely clearing the high cavern ceiling above. "They speak truth about this 'other world'. It is legend amongst my kind." The dark-skinned man, Levail, stroked his chin contemplatively, as if vexed by this sudden information, before his clouded expression cleared into one of pleasant welcome.

"Very well. We will take you up on your offer", he said to Erza, holding out his hand as a sign of agreement, which Erza shook readily. "Welcome to the Resistance."

"Previously, our lands also had wizards of immeasurable number", Levail explained to the team as he led them down a series of corridors, cut deep into the side of a massive mountain. Upon their arrival, the team had explained the circumstances of their sudden appearance at what had turned out to be the entrance to the Resistance headquarters, where they were met by the Resistance's vanguard themselves. This was initially met by disbelief, founded upon the theory that the team were spies of the Order, as well as the fact that they were accompanied by a Wyvern Scout from the Barracks. However, their demonstration of their powers to Levail inside a cavern, against some of the Resistance's best non-magic users, led him to the conclusion that their seemingly implausible account was completely true; they were adept users of magic, possessing power that simply couldn't belong to the Black Alliance.

"What happened to them?" Lucy asked, inquisitively.

"They were persecuted, and still are: tracked down and captured by members of the Black Alliance, and held in lacrima cells. They're unable to use magic there without risking their lives, as well as those of the people locked up with them." A grim expression settled upon Levail's silent features, as he recounted the events, and recalled experienced of his own. The conversation lapsed, the group falling into an uncomfortable silence, as they walked on past the corridors.

"So is that how you knew we were wizards, then?" Gray hazarded, wishing to change the subject of conversation.

"Indeed", Levail nodded. "If you were truly part of the Alliance, the only magic you would possess would come from your weapons, or it would be Black Dracanei magic. Also, even if the Order did, somehow, possess mages as powerful as you all", he gestured to the team, "they would not send them on a simple scouting mission. We're here." Levail led them inside a small room, where he flicked down a black lever. The whirring of moving metal rose to a mellow drone, as the room began to move upwards, elevating the team past thousands of tons of dark mountain rock. Finally, the team emerged from the small room, having reached its maximum height, onto a smooth ledge of gray marble.

Beyond them was truly a sight to behold. Lustrous pearls of light beaded the streets of the city beneath their feet, and far beyond, the light from the lacrima orbs illuminating the spectacle with incredible radiance. Rows upon rows of white stone created a mesh-like formation around six massive crystal bulwarks that rose up into the cavern ceiling, glittering with the captured light from the lacrima around it. Upon closer inspection, the criss-crossing of the marble structures revealed crowds of tiny people, forming clusters around some, whilst others on strange crystalline vehicles swerved past them, making their way across the elaborate series of gridded pathways that led to holes in the cavern wall. "This is the shopping district. It is where our citizens gather to buy materials found throughout the mountains, and the small clusters of jungle within the range" Levail announced proudly, with a flourish of his cape, as he led the team down a series of carefully carved stairs in the mountain. "Directly beside it is our residential district", he pointed to a doorway in the wall of the leftmost cavern, lined with glowing sapphire. "however I'll introduce this to you later on. Directly ahead is our destination: the palace. Our queen would wish to meet you directly."

"Your queen?" Gray questioned.

"The rightful ruler of Drakonia, before the Black Alliance's tyranny erupted throughout the continent." Levail's chin jutted downward in obvious displeasure at the recollection of their enemy. "She appeared to us during the brink of a war between humans and dragons some years ago. It was then that the Order of Humanity was the most powerful, and they sought to exterminate all dragons, before our Queen stopped their plot and united our two races. Now, they have undone everything she has achieved, which is why we must retaliate. Step aboard."

The team, now at the bottom of the staircase and on one of the outmost streets of the Resistance's city, stepped toward a large horizontal crystal, with identical engravings every few inches upon its surface. "They're handholds", Levail explained patiently, as he deftly manoeuvred himself atop the front of the crystal, placing his hands within what had turned out to be grooves in the crystal, rather than engravings. Erza, with a confident stride, leapt upon the crystal and slid her hands into the ridges with a fluid motion. Natsu was eventually dragged onto the crystal at the insistence of Gray and Lucy, and finally a timid Dolby approached the crystal, looking nervously behind him.

"Worried about Al?" Lucy asked kindly, holding a hand out to Dolby, to help him get up.

"It's the first time we've been apart since we met", his bottom lip quivered, as he nervously pondered the fate of his friend.

"Your friend will meet us at the place we're headed. I had Vireon,the dragon you met eariler, show him" Levail called from the front of the crystal. Dolby's eyes lit up at the thought of being reunited with Al, and leapt onto the crystal with as much enthusiasm as Natsu lacked. "Ready all?" Levail called, tapping the front of the crystal once, causing it to shimmer with an expectant ruby light, levitating a foot above the ground.

"No-" Natsu started, before Gray clamped a hand upon his mouth.

"Go for it, before he tries to get off!" Gray called urgently.

"You won't escape this, Natsu!" Erza said to the fire wizard, as she pinned his flailing legs, whilst Gray restricted him in a headlock.

"Step on it!" Lucy called, tying Natsu's arms behind his back with her Celestial whip, as Dolby ducked and screamed, narrowly avoiding a stream of fire which came from an indignant Natsu's mouth.

"Let go! Happy!" Natsu called instinctively for his partner's help.

"Happy isn't here to save you this time, firehead", Gray grinned, as he helped Lucy pinned Natsu's arms further behind his back.

Levail looked at the spectacle behind him with an astounded curiousity, and growing amusement, smiling as he thought to himself: _So these are the people that are going to change this world?_ Their energy infectious, Levail spurred the crystal on with newfound enthusiasm. "Next stop on our list: The Emerald Palace!" However, despite his announcement, nobody seemed to take note of the palace's unusual title, too busy having fun stopping Natsu from getting off the crystal, or too busy attempting not to throw up, if you happened to be Natsu.

 **A/N:** **Really sorry about the exceptionally long delay for writing this one, guys. I do still intend to update regularly, however schoolwork and several recitals/productions are really taking a large chunk out of my time. Still, I do hope you enjoy reading this one as much as I enjoyed writing it: it's a refreshing break from homework and rehearsals.**


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